A Girl Named Maura
by propertyofjanerizzoli
Summary: AU. A flufftastic series of Valentine's Day celebrations for Jane and Maura from 1981 onward.
1. Preschool

**A/N: Could be a one-shot or I could continue with each year depending on what you all think. **

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February 14, 1981

Jane Rizzoli had been sitting on the carpet in her preschool classroom for what felt like hours. She looked at the clock, but her inability to tell time prevented her from knowing if lunch and recess were approaching. Since the clock wasn't working to her advantage, Jane tried to recollect the usual routine of her schooldays as an indicator of whether or not it was almost time for lunch. _Story time is always before lunch_, Jane remembered. _When the story is over, then it's time to eat and then play with Maura._ Playing with Maura was always the highlight of Jane's day. Maura's favorite game was hopscotch and, although Jane didn't enjoy it as much as Maura did, she was willing to play just about anything if it meant spending time with Maura.

The children in Jane's preschool class were all seated patiently in their designated squares except for Jane. There were two squares sectioned off by masking tape and two children seated in those squares between her and Maura. A boy named Joey and a girl named Mallory were separating Jane from her Maura, but once the story was over Jane knew there was absolutely nobody that could stop her from holding Maura's hand. _This story is too long_, Jane thought as she fidgeted in her square. To amuse herself, Jane made a silly face at Maura but Maura was too engaged in the story about a little boy and his puppy to notice what Jane was doing. After Jane noticed the red hand on the clock go around once, she made yet another attempt at getting Maura's attention. Jane stuck her tongue out and crossed her eyes and, just as she had hoped, Maura finally noticed her. Maura held her hand over her mouth to try to stifle her giggles, but it was to no avail. Their entire class and their teacher were now looking at Jane and Maura.

"I'm sorry," Maura said sheepishly, but Jane had no intentions of apologizing. She was grateful for the distraction because, soon after, their teacher finally announced it was lunchtime.

Jane ran over to the cubbies and handed Maura her lunchbox before grabbing her own. She knew there'd be a peanut butter and fluff sandwich waiting for her and, as much as she loved peanut butter and fluff, she was feeling too nervous to eat or play. It was Jane's first Valentine's Day being what she considered a "big girl" and she was going to ask Maura to be her valentine.

Jane and Maura had met each other on the first day of preschool, but their first encounter was far from ideal. It was a rainy day, so the children had recess inside instead of going outdoors. Jane was involved in a rather intense role playing game in which she and some of the boys pretended to be dinosaurs when she looked over and saw a girl playing with blocks by herself.

"Why is she alone?" Jane asked her new friends.

"Because no one likes her," one of the boys responded.

"I'm going to ask her to play with us," Jane insisted, but she was stopped by another one of her new friends.

"If you ask her, you can't play with us," he informed her.

"I don't wanna play with meanies like you," Jane retorted.

She didn't know if this girl would even want to play with her or why no one liked her, but Jane found herself willing to risk everything just for the opportunity to talk to her. The girl was looking intently at the letters on the blocks and arranging them in order from A to Z. Jane had never seen another kid do something like that for fun, so she wondered if that was why none of the kids liked her. As Jane was about to introduce herself, one of the girls approached her and knocked over some of Maura's blocks.

"Maura the Bore-A," she chanted. Maura looked as if she was about to cry, so Jane decided to step in.

"Don't call her that," Jane demanded. "Or I'm going to tell everyone you pick your nose."

When Maura's bully had a look of sheer terror on her face, Jane knew that girl would never bother Maura again. Jane didn't quite understand why, but sticking up for Maura made her happy and the smile on Maura's face added to the happiness she was already feeling.

"Do you want to play with me?" Maura asked. Jane would have rather pretended to be a dinosaur with the boys than spell things with blocks, but she remembered what the boys had said about her not being able to play with them anymore if she talked to Maura.

"Okay," Jane shrugged. "Wanna make a tower?"

"No," Maura shook her head. "Is your name Jane?" Before Jane could even respond, Maura began rearranging four of her blocks until she properly spelled 'Jane.'

"That was fast," Jane said in amazement. "Lemme spell your name." Jane grabbed four blocks and arranged them to spell 'Mora.'

"That's not how you spell it," Maura pointed out. "It's M-A-U-R-A."

"Oh," Jane blushed. She had wanted to impress this girl, but she was now worried that her inability to spell Maura's name was a disadvantage.

"Don't be sad," Maura said as she smiled at Jane. "My name is hard to spell. It's okay if you don't get it right the first time."

From that moment on, Jane and Maura played together every opportunity they were given. The two little girls were opposites in every way, but their friendship worked for them. Maura would teach Jane how to spell new words and tell her facts about her favorite dinosaurs and animals. In return, Jane taught Maura how to swing on the swings and how to ride a tricycle. During the car ride home from her first day of school, Angela asked her daughter about what she learned and Jane spoke briefly about learning to spell her name before going off on a tangent about her new best friend, a girl named Maura.

The sun was shining and the temperature had risen, so Jane, Maura, and their preschool classmates were able to play outside after they had eaten lunch. As she did every time they walked to the playground, Maura held Jane's hand and smiled at her, but this time Jane didn't smile in return. Her mind was on the piece of paper she had folded and tucked away in the back pocket of her grass-stained jeans. It was a homemade Valentine for Maura and little Jane was waiting for the right time to give it to her.

"Do you like my shoes?" Maura asked as she pointed to the new pair of white Mary Jane shoes with a light pink bow on the buckle that matched the color of her dress. "I think the bows are pretty." Jane had never paid attention to shoes—including her own—but seeing Maura's new shoes and the excitement she had for them made her smile.

"I think you're pretty," Jane confessed. "I think you're more pretty than the bows." The palm of her little hand that was holding Maura's had started to sweat. "I have something for you."

"What is it?" Maura asked.

Jane let go of Maura's hand and fumbled with the piece of paper in her pocket before handing it over to a very curious little Maura. "Happy Valentine's Day," Jane said as Maura unfolded the paper and looked at the drawing. "I drew a heart and a turtle because you like turtles."

"Tortoise," Maura corrected her, but it was merely force of habit. She paid little attention to Jane's mistake as she looked at the drawing.

Jane fidgeted before gathering the nerve to hold Maura's hand again. "Will you be my Valentine?"

Jane's question had caught her off guard, but it was exactly what Maura had been hoping Jane would ask her since the start of the school day. "Yes," she responded.

"Yes?" Jane asked just to be certain.

"Yes!" Maura beamed.

Maura Isles was officially her Valentine and, although Jane wasn't quite sure what that meant, she hoped it entitled her to do something she had wanted to do since recess began. When she was realized that no one was looking, Jane leaned in and kissed Maura on the cheek.

"I wanted to kiss you first," Maura giggled and the moment Jane turned around Maura surprised her with her very first kiss on the cheek.

Jane and Maura spent the rest of their time outside playing hopscotch, but for Jane it was different from every other time they played. This time she was playing the game as Maura's Valentine and she hoped it would be only the first of many Valentine's Days she would spend with Maura.


	2. Kindergarten

**A/N: Your comments for the first chapter really made my day and I've decided to continue with this little tale of young Rizzles love. Thanks so much and I hope you enjoy this next chapter.**

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February 14, 1982

Kindergarten brought new responsibilities for Jane, but she was eager to prove to her parents that she was a big girl and she could help out whenever she was needed. Jane had two baby brothers that required a lot of attention, especially in the morning, so she'd try her best to get ready for school on her own although there were times when her mom would have to give her some assistance.

While Jane was eating breakfast, her mom had laid out a pair of jeans and a red turtleneck for her. Jane would have preferred to wear her Sesame Street t-shirt, but since it was cold outside, she knew she'd have to wear her turtleneck instead. Jane had no trouble putting on her jeans, but her turtleneck was giving her more trouble than she had expected. She was able to get her arms in, but her head became stuck in the collar.

"Ma!" Jane called out and it was only a matter of seconds before she heard the sound of her mom's laughter as she stood in the doorway.

"Janie," Angela laughed. Her kindergartener's head was stuck in the collar of her turtleneck and she had started to flail her arms. She wanted to get the camera, but she knew the longer she took the fussier Jane would become.

"Ma, I'm stuck," Jane told her as she continued to flail her arms. With one quick pull, Angela was able to get Jane's shirt over her head and Jane immediately returned to getting herself ready.

Once Jane's shoes were on, Angela wrapped her arms around her daughter and held her close for a brief moment before Jane became fidgety. "Janie, slow down. You have plenty of time."

Jane started to fidget even more. "Let go. Let go. I have to get something."

As much as Angela wanted to hold on to her little girl, she let her go and watched as Jane rushed to a shoebox that she kept under her bed. Every time Angela cleaned Jane's room, she had seen it as nothing more than an ordinary shoebox, but to Jane it was a treasure box and she used it to store everything that she considered a treasure. There were baseball cards, a car made out of Lego bricks, blocks that spelled Maura's name, a pair of shoelaces that she thought were lucky shoelaces, and her most recent treasure: a heart made out of pink and red construction paper with the words 'I love you' written in black crayon. "Here," Jane said with a smile on her face as she handed her mother the Valentine.

Angela was nearly moved to tears. "You made this for me?"

"Yeah," Jane nodded. "You're my mommy Valentine and Maura is going to be my other Valentine."

While Angela waited for her near the front door, Jane said goodbye to the rest of her family. Jane loved kindergarten and she was always excited to go to school, but Angela couldn't help but smile at how enthusiastic her daughter was that morning.

"Bye, Pop," Jane said as she gave her dad a hug. "I love you." She then gave Frankie a hug and baby Tommy a kiss on the forehead. "You two be good for Pop. I gotta go to school now but I'll be home later."

She hadn't thought it was possible, but Jane loved kindergarten even more than preschool. The kids who had once made fun of Maura were all in a different class and her square on the carpet was located right next to Maura's square. There was no more naptime and, instead, her class had an hour-long activity time called 'centers.' During centers they'd be split into four groups and rotate between four different activities. There were art projects, numbers games, word games, and other activities that Jane enjoyed. She wasn't in the same group as Maura, but the two of them still played together at recess and ate their lunches side-by-side.

When Jane saw Maura before school began, she thought she was even prettier than ever. Her hair was in two pigtails tied with red hair ribbons that matched the color of her sweater and sparkly red Mary Jane shoes. "Maura, we match," Jane beamed. "We both have red." When Maura smiled, Jane noticed something different about her. She had told her about a loose tooth and Jane saw that it had finally come out. "Maura, your tooth!"

"I lost my lower right lateral incisor," Maura explained before she pointed to the empty space between two of her teeth.

Jane had no clue what Maura had just said, so she decided to change the subject. "Did the tooth fairy give you any money?"

"Not yet," Maura shook her head. "My tooth came out while I was eating breakfast this morning."

"Did it hurt?" Jane asked. "Was there any blood?"

Maura giggled. "I didn't feel it come out, but it was stuck in my apple slice."

Her Valentine had lost her first tooth and Jane wanted to do something special for her. Every time a child in Jane's classroom lost a tooth, her teacher would give him or her a tiny felt pouch shaped like a star so they could have a secure place to keep their tooth while they waited for the tooth fairy that night. Jane knew Maura was too shy to tell their teacher so she decided to take matters into her own hands. "I'll be right back, Maura. Wait for me at our squares."

After their teacher rang the bell, she started the school day with an announcement. "Boys and girls, I've been told that one of you lost a tooth today."

Jane's classmates all looked at each other and she heard different reactions ranging from 'Not me' to 'Oooh, lucky' When Maura squeezed Jane's hand, she became filled with an overwhelming urge to announce Maura's good news to the class. "It was Maura," Jane announced.

Little Jane was filled with so much pride as she watched Maura make her way to the front of the classroom and receive her felt pouch. Their classmates asked her questions about how she lost it and Maura had overcome her shyness as she answered them. As Maura answered yet another question, Jane couldn't stop smiling. _That's my Valentine, _she thought.

While they were in Valentine's Day-themed centers after lunch, Jane was apprehensive about making beaded jewelry. She wanted to get that center over with so she could paint, but then a brilliant idea came to mind. All of the other kids were making Valentine jewelry for their moms, but Jane decided she was going to make something pretty for Maura. She grabbed a handful of red and white beads and began working on what she hoped would be a necklace worthy of Maura's approval. Her necklace was finished in the nick of time and she placed it around her own neck for safekeeping until she could give it to Maura.

Jane's excitement had dwindled once centers were over and she was face-to-face with Maura. She worried about Maura not liking the necklace and whether or not she would even want it, but what Jane didn't know was that Maura was just as nervous as she was.

"I made you a necklace," Jane said as she took the necklace off her own neck and put it on Maura.

Maura carefully ran her fingers along the beads and took notice of the red and white pattern. "I'm going to wear this everyday," Maura said before giving Jane a hug. As Maura's arms were wrapped around her, Jane felt herself get weak in the knees. "I love you, Jane. I have something for you, too."

Jane smiled as she saw Maura run over to an easel and grab her painting. "Is this us?" Jane asked as she looked at a painting of two girls, one dressed as a goalie and one dressed as a doctor.

"This is us when we're all grown up," Maura explained. "You play hockey and you're a goalie and I'm a doctor and your wife." She pointed to a big house in the background. "And this is our house."

Jane noticed yet another detail of Maura's painting. "You painted a turtle. Do we have a pet turtle, too?"

"Tortoise," Maura corrected her. "We're going to have a tortoise and a big closet for all of my shoes."

They may have only been in kindergarten, but Jane liked the life that Maura had painted for them in that picture. "Do I play for the Bruins?" she asked.

"Yes," Maura nodded. "And we can do all of the other things that grown ups do when they're married. We can have a sleepover every night."

"A sleepover every night!" Jane said excitedly. "Can we have cookies and watch Sesame Street?"

"All the time," Maura pointed out.

Jane became lost in a fantasy world of being a goalie and having Maura for a wife. They'd have chocolate chip cookies and pizza for dinner every night and play Candyland before bedtime. It was going to be a fun-filled life for the two of them and little Jane already couldn't wait to be a grown up.


	3. First Grade

**A/N: Thank you so much for the reviews. They put a huge smile on my face. :D I know Maura and Constance didn't have the best mother/daughter relationship when Maura was a child, but this is AU and fluffy, so I couldn't help changing that. I hope you all don't mind.**

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February 14, 1983

Jane was disappointed when she realized that Valentine's Day was on a Saturday and she wouldn't be able to see Maura and celebrate with cookies and punch. When Angela noticed her daughter mope around the house on Saturday morning, she decided to take matters into her own hands. She found a piece of paper in Jane's treasure box with Maura's phone number written on it so without telling Jane she called Maura's mother and arranged for the girls to have a sleepover. Maura was due to arrive in less than an hour and, although Jane was already dressed, there were still some chores that needed to be completed.

"Janie!" Angela called out. Jane came running to the kitchen so quickly that she skidded on the floor in her socks.

"Hmm?" Jane asked as she jumped up on the countertop near the kitchen sink.

Angela didn't like the kids to wear hats indoors, but Maura had bought Jane a Red Sox cap for her birthday and Jane refused to take it off. She wore it everyday rain or shine and when it was cold outside she turned it backwards and wore a beanie or ear muffs over it. The cap was now Jane's favorite possession or, 'her most favoritest thing in the world other than Maura' as she liked to say.

"Do you want to dry the dishes for me?" Angela asked. "I'll have a surprise for you when you're finished."

Seven-year-old Jane was intrigued. "A surprise? Is it cookies?"

"Better than cookies," Angela insisted. She tapped her finger to Jane's little nose, which in turn elicited a wide, toothless smile from Jane. Less than a week prior, Jane had lost her two front teeth and while other children were self-conscious about smiling without their two front teeth, Jane and Maura proudly showed off their matching toothless grins.

Once she heard the surprise was better than cookies, Jane dried the dishes as quickly as she could, except for the knives, which she wasn't allowed to touch. While drying the dishes, she imagined what the surprise could be. _Are we having pizza for dinner? Is Pop taking me to a Bruins game? _Jane's eyes grew wide when she heard the doorbell ring. "I'll get it!" she shouted.

"Stop right there," Angela said as she playfully held back her overly excited daughter. "What did we tell you about opening the door?"

"No opening the door until I'm tall enough to look in the peephole and see who it is," Jane recited. "Unless I hear that it's you or Pop."

"That's right," Angela responded.

Jane sulked. "I'm tired of being little. Someday I'm going to be adult Jane and I'm going to be tough and strong and I'll open the door."

"But that day is not today," Angela pointed out. "You're still my little Janie."

When her mom opened the door, Jane stopped sulking and, out of curiosity, she decided to take a peek at who was waiting in the doorway. She had expected to see friends of her parents or maybe even her grandma, so she was surprised to see Maura standing in the doorway with her mom.

"Maura!" Jane shouted as she ran over to her. Before Maura could even say hello, Jane had wrapped her arms around her and held her in a tight embrace. "Maura, you're my surprise."

Maura rested her head on Jane's shoulder. "We get to have a sleepover tonight."

Constance and Angela briefly looked at their little girls and were in awe of how close Jane and Maura had become. There were details to discuss, but Jane had already grabbed Maura's Strawberry Shortcake sleeping bag and her overnight bag and set them down in the living room; however, there was something else Maura had brought that piqued her curiosity.

"What's that, Mrs. Isles?" Jane asked as she looked at the small aquarium she was holding.

Maura didn't give her mom a chance to answer. "My tortoise is in there," Maura beamed. "Mommy and Daddy bought me a tortoise last night and he's going to be at our sleepover."

"You deserved something special for winning the spelling bee last week," Constance affectionately told her daughter.

The aquarium was too heavy for Maura to carry by herself, so Jane offered to take one end as she took the other. It was a team effort and they were able to safely set the aquarium on the coffee table in the living room without disturbing Maura's tortoise.

Constance gave her little girl a goodbye hug as she told her the obligatory list of things to remember while being a guest at someone's house. "Be a good girl for Mrs. Rizzoli," she reminded her. "Say please and thank you, brush your teeth before bed, and I'll be here to pick you up tomorrow at noon. Do you know when that is?"

Maura smiled at her mom. "When the little and big hands on my watch are both on the number twelve."

"That's my girl."

"I can tell time now, Mommy," Maura pointed out. "I'm in first grade. That means I'm a big girl."

"We did a worksheet about telling time at school," Jane brought to their moms' attention. "And me and Maura both got star stickers on ours because we got them all right."

"Jane's so smart," Maura bragged. "And so pretty and she's my hero. I love her and I'm going to marry her someday."

Their mothers had no response to what Maura had just confessed and they merely dismissed it as nothing more than their little girls playing make believe. They knew Jane and Maura were too young to know what crushes were, so they chocked it up to nothing more than childhood innocence.

When the girls were alone in the living room, Maura took her tortoise out of his aquarium and set him down on the carpet while she flipped through a book about tortoises.

"What's his name?" Jane asked as she watched the tortoise slowly start to maneuver himself.

"His name is Bass," Maura smiled. "He's a Geochelone sulcata also known as an African spurred tortoise."

"Or a turtle," Jane quipped.

"Tortoise," Maura responded. "Bass is a tortoise, aren't you, Bass?"

"What does he do?" Jane asked. "How do you pet him?"

"Softly," Maura instructed. "You can pet his shell very softly like this. Just don't stick your fingers in front of his mouth or he might bite you. He bit my daddy last night."

When Maura returned to reading her book, Jane finally worked up the nerve to pet Bass. She had never touched a tortoise before and, although she considered herself to be braver than most kids, she was afraid Bass might bite her. She slowly moved her hand closer to him, but she had forgotten all about Maura's warning. When her finger was in front of his mouth, Bass gently clamped it as best as he could around Jane's finger.

"Ouch," Jane said as she shook her finger immediately after Bass had set it free. "Your turtle bit me."

"Tortoise," Maura corrected her. "Did you stick your finger in front of his mouth?"

"No," Jane shook her head.

"Jane," Maura glared at her.

"Yes," Jane admitted. "I didn't know he was an attack turtle."

"Tortoise," Maura corrected her yet again. Jane was calling him a turtle just to get a reaction from Maura, but she had failed to catch on. "Bass is very sweet. You just have to be nice to him." She grabbed Jane's hand and gently placed two of her fingers on Bass's shell.

"This isn't so bad," Jane told her once she had gotten used to petting Bass. "He's so tiny. Is he going to grow really big like the tortoises we read about in animal science?"

"Yeah," Maura beamed. Jane was so rarely interested in "animal science" as she called it and Maura took advantage of every opportunity she was given to engage her. "Bass is only four inches right now, but he's going to grow a lot over the next few years. Right now he's a kid like us and Mommy said that if Bass eats his vegetables and I eat my vegetables, we're both going to stay healthy and grow. Bass and I had vegetables together this morning. I ate carrots and dip and Bass ate spinach. My book says that a Geochelone sulcata can live to be up to 150 years old and can weigh up to 200 pounds!"

Jane's eyes grew wide. "No way! That's so cool!"

"I told you science can be cool, Jane," Maura pointed out.

"Only some things," Jane insisted. "Like Bass and those mean looking fish that have lights on their head."

"Anglerfish," Maura informed her. "Only the female has that feature and it's used to lure their prey. They can swallow prey up to twice their size."

"Okay, Encyclopedia Mouth," Jane said as she affectionately put her hand on Maura's arm. "Let's go play outside."

The girls played outside in the backyard with Frankie until it was time for dinner. There was pizza and heart-shaped cookies waiting for them at the table and the girls ate until they could no longer take another bite. After dinner, Frank helped his daughter and her friend build a fort in the living room with chairs and some spare bed sheets. Frank and Angela had called it a fort, but Jane and Maura had every intention of pretending it was their house.

When it was time for bed, the girls laid out their sleeping bags as close as they could to each other in the fort. Bass was content in his aquarium on top of the coffee table and there was nothing left for them to do but fall asleep—that is, if Maura could actually fall asleep. It was her first night away from her parents and she had wanted to prove to Jane that she was brave, but the storm outside only added to her uneasiness.

"It's okay," Jane tried to reassure her, but when the thunder became loud enough to shake the window, Maura couldn't help scooting even closer to Jane.

"I know it's just an increase in pressure and temperature from lightning, but it's still scary," Maura said as she looked at Jane.

"Thunder is very scary," Jane pointed out. "But we're inside and it can't hurt us. I'm going to protect you, Maura."

"That's why you're my hero," Maura smiled.

Seeing Maura smile made Jane feel as if she had butterflies in her tummy. Her Maura was scared and needed protection so she wrapped her arms around her and gave her a kiss on the cheek. "Do you remember kindergarten?"

"Yes," Maura nodded. "This is like the picture I painted for you."

"Yup," Jane agreed. "We had pizza and cookies for dinner. We have a house, a tortoise, and we can pretend that you're my wife."

Jane's words put Maura at ease and it wasn't long before she fell asleep in the safety and comfort of Jane's little arms.

"Happy Valentine's Day," Jane whispered to her now sleeping Valentine.


	4. Second Grade

**A/N: Sorry for taking awhile to update, but thank you so much for the feedback. I hope you enjoy second grade Rizzles. :)**

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February 14, 1984

Second grade was an exciting time for Jane. With Frankie now in kindergarten, Jane wasn't the only Rizzoli sibling at her school and, because Frankie was a little boy in kindergarten and Jane was a big girl in second grade, there were times when he needed her. When their mom was busy making dinner or taking care of Tommy, Jane would help him with his homework and, now that he was older, Frankie was becoming much more fun for Jane to play with. When the weather was bad, the two of them would stay inside and play Candyland and Go Fish together and, when the weather was nice, they'd go outside and play basketball or throw a child-sized football back and forth. Frankie looked up to his big sister and Jane wanted to be a good role model for him.

Jane had always been a good student, but she found herself working even harder now to set a good example for Frankie and, although she'd never admit it, she also worked hard to impress Maura. Jane had mastered addition and subtraction and she was working on multiplication because, if she knew multiplication, she'd be on the same math level as Maura. Jane had learned her multiplication tables up to multiples of five and she was currently working on multiples of six just like Maura was.

Now that Jane had advanced herself academically, she had been invited to participate in the second grade spelling bee. Frank and Angela were proud parents when Jane came home with a letter saying that she was one out of only ten second graders who were chosen to participate. The list of possible words had been distributed three weeks prior to the spelling bee and Angela made sure she set aside at least an hour each day to quiz Jane and help her prepare. Even Frankie and Tommy helped out as much as they could. Angela had made all of the words into flash cards and put them in a container. Tommy would pick a flashcard at random from the container, hand it to Angela and Angela would read the word to Jane. If Jane spelled the word correctly, Frankie would put it in a separate container made specifically for the words Jane had already mastered and if she spelled the word incorrectly it would go into a container made for words that Jane needed additional help with.

By the night of the spelling bee, Jane had mastered every word on the spelling list, but she had become so preoccupied with winning that she had forgotten who the other participants were. Jane knew they were all smart children and she was one of them, but there was one participant who made her especially nervous: Maura. Whether or not Maura was smarter than her wasn't what concerned Jane. She was proud of Maura for being smart and she knew Maura was as equally proud of her. What worried her was the possibility of being a better speller than Maura and winning the spelling bee.

On the night of the spelling bee, Jane had her hair tied back in a ponytail and topped off her ensemble with the lucky Red Sox cap that Maura had bought for her the previous year. She had chosen a pair of jeans and a Smurfs t-shirt, but the moment Angela saw what her daughter was wearing, she made her change her clothes. Jane left the house in a dress and a white sweater with the Red Sox cap still firmly placed on her head. Angela tried to take it off of her, but Jane argued that if she had to wear a dress she should at least be able to wear her lucky cap with it.

Minutes before the spelling bee was scheduled to begin, Jane saw Maura backstage with her mom.

"Don't be afraid," Constance said as she knelt down to be on her daughter's level. "This spelling bee is no different from the one you were in last year."

"Yes, it is," Maura argued. "Jane wasn't here last year and she's here this year. She's competing against me, Mommy. What if I win and she doesn't want to be friends with me anymore? And if I lose, you and Daddy will be upset with me."

Constance wiped a tear that had begun to stream down Maura's cheek. "Nobody is going to be upset with you. Your dad and I will always love you. Even if you are the first person eliminated, we will still be proud of you for being chosen and for trying so hard."

"What about Jane?" Maura asked.

Jane saw that as the perfect opportunity for her to step in. Her Maura was crying and, although her mom was offering her reassurance, Jane knew that she was the one person who could ease Maura's mind about their friendship.

Without saying a single word, Jane approached Maura and gave her a hug. With Maura wrapped up in her embrace, Jane turned to face Maura's mom. "I'll take it from here," Jane told Constance who, as a result, tried her hardest not to laugh. Jane was so confident in her ability to comfort Maura and both Constance and Angela now realized it was only a matter of a few years before their girls started having deeper feelings and a physical attraction to each other. They dreaded Jane and Maura's upcoming teen years and all the dramatic and maybe even foolish things the two of them would do for each other in the name of love, so they had every intention of enjoying Jane and Maura's childhood while it lasted.

Now that Jane was holding her, Maura stopped crying and smiled for the first time since entering the auditorium. "I love you, Jane."

"I love you more."

"No," Maura giggled. "I love _you _more."

"I'm always going to love you," Jane reassured her. "It doesn't matter who wins."

Although Jane was only eight-years-old, when she said the word 'always' to Maura she meant it. She couldn't yet grasp what it was like to be in love with someone, but she knew that Maura was her best friend and she wanted to spend the rest of her life with her.

When one of the second grade teachers informed the children that it was time to take a seat on stage, Jane grabbed Maura's hand and gave it a gentle squeeze to reassure her that everything was going to be okay.

There were two children eliminated in the first round and another three eliminated in the third round. The difficulty of the words increased with each round, but it was Maura rather than the words that concerned Jane. She looked at the beautiful little girl sitting next to her. Her lips were moving, but she wasn't making a sound. Jane knew she was spelling the words in her head and feeling the pressure on her increase as more participants were eliminated.

Jane spelled her words with perfect ease each time she went up to the microphone, but she noticed Maura didn't have the same level of confidence. Maura was a shy little girl and, although she had participated in this spelling bee last year, it took every ounce of courage she had to approach the microphone.

Forty minutes into the spelling bee, Jane's worst nightmare had come true: the competition was down to just her and Maura. "I love you," Jane whispered into her ear before Maura went up to the microphone.

As she stood in front of the microphone, Maura straightened out a wrinkle in her skirt and waited for her next word. Her parents smiled at her, but Maura's thoughts were all focused on Jane.

"Maura, your word is 'herd,'" the principal informed her before using the word in a sentence.

"Heard," Maura began. "H-E-A-R-D. Heard." When she heard the sound of a bell, which indicated that she had misspelled the word, Maura returned to her seat and began to cry. "I spelled the wrong version of the word," Jane heard her whisper. "I should have concentrated on the sentence."

Jane's heart broke when she saw Maura verbally chastise herself. This spelling bee meant the world to Maura and she wasn't going to take that victory away from her. Jane loved to win and she loved to be the best, but not if being the best meant winning something that meant so much to her favorite person.

After spelling Maura's word correctly, Jane was given another word. "Jane, your word is 'flamboyant,'" the principal informed her.

It was a word that Jane had practiced spelling and she could have won, but she decided to misspell it so Maura could have another chance. "Flamboyant," Jane began. "F-L-A-M-B-O-Y-E-N-T. Flamboyant."

When the bell rang, Jane returned to her seat and squeezed Maura's hand. "I love you," Maura whispered after she realized what Jane had done for her.

Maura spelled Jane's word correctly and received what she hoped would be her final word. "Your word is 'weather,'" the principal told her.

After listening to the sentence the word was used in, Maura confidently spelled the word. When the principal announced that Maura was the second grade spelling bee champion, her initial reaction was to hug Jane.

"You did this for me?" Maura asked.

"No," Jane lied.

"Yes, you did," Maura smiled at her.

"Maybe," Jane blushed. "I'd do anything for you, Maura, and I knew you deserved to win. You needed to win this spelling bee so you could be Dr. Maura someday like in the picture you painted in kindergarten."

Maura hugged her even tighter. "You did this for _us_."

"Everything I do is for you or for us," Jane beamed.

"Maura, it's time to get your trophy," the principal announced.

"Oh," Maura gasped. "I forgot my trophy."

Her reaction made all of the adults in the room start to laugh and, as she approached the principal hand-in-hand with Jane, both of the girls were filled with so much pride and love for each other.


	5. Third Grade

**A/N: Thank you so much for your comments. Our girls are growing up so fast. **

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February 14, 1985

Third grade wasn't a particularly exciting time for Jane, but she enjoyed every second she spent with Maura. Now that they were older they were allowed to ride their bikes without adult supervision. Although they could only go as far as the crosswalk, the two of them still felt a new sense of independence. Sometimes Frankie would tag along and preschool-aged Tommy would trail behind them on his tricycle. When they grew tired of riding their bikes up and down the street, Frankie and Tommy would go inside and Jane and Maura would be left alone. Jane enjoyed spending time with her brothers, but she always looked forward to having her best friend all to herself. Although they were only in third grade, Jane had started to notice changes in Maura. Hopscotch had been Maura's favorite game since preschool, but she no longer wanted to play. Instead, Maura just wanted to hold hands and talk at recess. Why anyone would rather talk instead of playing was beyond Jane, but if Maura wanted to talk Jane was more than willing to comply. When they talked, Jane noticed that Maura started to look at her differently. For years, they had mentioned getting married and their future together, but now Maura was talking about a completely different subject: being Jane's girlfriend. Jane knew married couples lived together and had children and jobs—that was a life she could see herself living—but what about being girlfriend and girlfriend? Whenever she thought of having a girlfriend, images of kissing and things she saw on cable late at night when she was supposed to be asleep filled her mind. She loved Maura, but nine-year-old Jane wanted no part in that.

Even Valentine's Day was becoming different for Jane. There were no more painting pictures and making necklaces. Maura had won the spelling bee yet again, but besides that everything about Valentine's Day and the days surrounding it were different. While they were supposed to be writing sentences to go with their spelling words, Jane looked over and saw Maura writing the words '_I love Jane_' on her sheet of paper. The same sentence had been written forty times and when there were no more lines for her to write on, Jane noticed Maura drawing little hearts everywhere.

When she finished drawing hearts, Maura pulled out a red crayon from inside her desk and started to carefully color them in. The hearts were the final straw for Jane. _Who is this girl and where is my best friend and future wife?_

"Aren't you supposed to be writing spelling word sentences?" Jane asked in hopes of getting Maura to stop what she was doing.

"I finished them last night," Maura responded as she continued to color in the hearts. "We do spelling word sentences every week, Jane. I thought I'd get a head start."

Uncertain of what she should say next, Jane returned to writing sentences with her spelling words. She was on her final sentence when Maura quietly placed a folded up piece of paper on her desk. Before picking up the piece of paper, Jane looked at Maura's composition book and noticed that the sheet of paper with '_I love Jane_' written dozens of times was still in tact. _Okay, so it's not that._ Jane quickly glanced at her teacher to be sure she wouldn't get caught before grabbing the piece of paper and unfolding it in her lap.

Written in red crayon were the words, '_Do you love me?_' followed by two boxes, one next to '_yes_' and one next to '_no_.' The note took Jane by surprise. She loved Maura, but she wasn't sure what Maura meant by that question. Regardless, she knew it was a turning point in her young life and she had no idea how to handle it. Jane wanted to hide under her desk until the end of the school day, but Maura was looking at her and waiting impatiently for a response, so Jane quickly checked the box next to '_yes_' and passed the note back to Maura.

Jane heard Maura swoon when she read the note and, in that moment, Jane knew her fate had been sealed. It wasn't a note asking if she loved her as a friend; rather, it was a note asking if she loved her as a girlfriend. _A girlfriend! _Nine-year-old Jane Rizzoli was going to be someone's girlfriend and she was scared out of her mind of what that meant. _I like kissing her on the cheek, but do I have to kiss her on the lips now? I don't want to kiss anyone on the lips. How am I going to take her on a date? I can't even cross the street without a grown up. People go on dates at night and I have to be inside when the sun goes down._

Jane continued to worry until she heard the bell that signaled the start of recess. "Recess!" she shouted before running to the closet to grab her coat. There were kids playing dodgeball and tetherball and some playing a game on the jungle gym—all of which were activities that appealed to Jane, but when Maura caught up to her and grabbed her hand she knew she'd partake in no such activities that day.

"I found a secret place behind the building," Maura whispered in her ear.

Jane gave her a confused look. "So?"

"So, let's go there," Maura said excitedly.

"But I wanna play," Jane whined. "Jeffrey and the boys have a game of dodgeball going on that I need to join. Chris is playing, too. I don't like Chris and this is my chance to throw a ball at him and not get in trouble for it."

"But you'll like this even more," Maura promised. Jane had a feeling she wouldn't like it as much as dodgeball, but she didn't have the heart to say no to Maura on Valentine's Day.

The weather was cold outside, so Maura used it as the perfect excuse to cuddle up to Jane. Just like every other Valentine's Day, they were together and the moment felt right for Jane until Maura did the unthinkable.

When Jane was focused on how good Maura's hair smelled and how nice it was to hold her, Maura leaned in and kissed her on the lips. Their lips were touching for no more than three seconds, but it was long enough for Jane to know that she didn't like kissing on the lips.

"Eww!" Jane said as she wiped her mouth. "Maura, what are you doing?"

"Kissing you," Maura responded. "It's what girlfriends do. We kiss each other on the cheek all the time, Jane."

"Yeah, but that's different," Jane insisted. "Maura, this is—this is—the _lips_. Kissing on the lips is gross!"

"Kissing me is gross?" Maura asked in disbelief. "But I put on vanilla lip gloss so my lips could taste like birthday cake when we kissed. You like birthday cake, Jane. I did everything themagazine said to do. What's wrong with me?"

With Maura on the verge of tears, Jane knew she had to do something quick. She held Maura closer than ever before and with the new height difference between them, Maura was able to comfortably rest her head on Jane's shoulders. When Jane placed a series of kisses on her cheek, Maura smiled for the first time since recess began. "Nothing is wrong with you," Jane reassured her. "I'm sorry if I hurt your feelings, but I don't like kissing on the lips. I might like it when I'm older, though, so it's not like I never want to kiss you on the lips ever again."

Maura responded with a kiss on the cheek. As always, Jane had made her feel better. "I know you don't want to be girlfriend and girlfriend," Maura sighed. "But can we still be Valentine's Day sweethearts?"

"Always," Jane promised.

Jane was unsure of what the future would hold for her relationship with Maura, but that Valentine's Day was proof that they were growing up and everything would someday change for them.


	6. Fourth Grade

**A/N: I know they're being a bit dramatic, but I just thought I'd have some fun with hormonal preteen Rizzles. Thanks again for the lovely comments and I hope you all had a fantastic Valentine's Day.**

* * *

February 14, 1986

Fourth grade brought about so many changes for Jane. She was now ten years old and, although her parents wished she could forever stay their little girl, Jane was excited about growing up. At age ten, Jane had entered that confusing and often difficult time of life known as the preteen years. Jane was only a fourth grader but she had already grown past five feet tall. She was too tall for children's clothes and too young for the clothes teenagers wore, so shopping for Jane had become even more difficult than before. Jane was teased for being the tallest and skinniest girl in class, but it stopped the moment she threw a ball at one of her tormentors during a game of dodge ball and nearly knocked the wind out of him. Despite the occasional teasing, Jane loved being tall. She was always picked first when they played basketball and volleyball and she was now able to see out of the peephole on the front door. Now that both Frankie and Tommy were attending the same school as Jane, she used her size and athletic abilities to intimidate kids that give her little brothers a hard time.

While Jane was most concerned with the physical changes she was going through, Frank and Angela noticed what was happening to their daughter emotionally. Jane would experience occasional mood swings, but what they were most concerned with was how girl crazy their daughter had become in such a short period of time. Jane had gone from not wanting a girlfriend to talking about nothing but girls and sports. The posters of Care Bears and Smurfs had been taken down and replaced with posters and pictures of teen actresses and singers that she had cut out from _Teen Beat _and _Seventeen _magazines. Angela knew there would come a time when her little girl would grow up and either be interested in boys or girls and she was prepared for Jane to have crushes on celebrities, but what worried her were the feelings her daughter was having for Maura. Just weeks prior, Jane had cut a heart out of poster board and used it to make a collage filled with pictures of Maura. Above the collage that was now hanging on her wall were the words, '_I love Maura_' and everywhere Angela looked there were pictures of Maura. What she soon found out was that Constance faced a similar ordeal whenever she entered Maura's room. There were pictures of Jane taped to the wall next to Maura's bed and a framed picture of Jane on her night stand that Maura kissed every night before she fell asleep.

Now that another Valentine's Day had approached, Jane's interest in girls—especially Maura—increased tenfold. Her every word was about Maura and what she had planned for them that night. At ten years old, Jane was far too young to date but since Maura was her best friend Angela didn't object to the two of them spending time together on Valentine's Day.

"Maura looked so cute today," Jane beamed as she was helping Angela with the dishes after dinner. "She wore a skirt and I could barely focus on what the teacher was saying because—"

"Janie!" Angela interrupted. "You're too young to talk like that."

"Like what?" Jane asked, completely unsure of what her mom was talking about. "Oh…yuck. Ma, I couldn't focus because a marker fell on her skirt while we were working on art projects and there was black ink on it. Maura with marker on her skirt—can you believe that? She's like the queen of neatness and perfection…and she's a major babe."

"Janie!"

"What?" Jane asked. "Maura's a babe."

Angela wanted to be upset, but she couldn't stifle her laughter. Her little Janie hadn't even reached her teenage years, but she was already becoming so incredibly hormonal. If Maura was a 'babe' to her at ten, Angela knew she'd want to be left in the dark regarding Jane's thoughts about Maura at age sixteen or seventeen.

"I have the best gift for Maura," Jane announced, breaking Angela's train of thought.

"I know you like talking about Maura," Angela began. "So, we're going to have a talk about her."

"This isn't the birds and the bees, is it?" Jane asked nervously. "I'm ten, Ma. Just ten."

"Sit," Angela commanded and Jane made her way over to the nearest chair in the kitchen. "This is a talk about you and Maura. I know you like her and—"

"This is more than like," Jane interrupted. "I like Molly Ringwald and Alyssa Milano. I think they're major babes, too, but it's different with Maura."

Angela snickered. "You just said Maura was a babe two minutes ago."

"Maura _is _a babe," Jane added. "Maura's a major babe and she's so perfect, but I don't _like _Maura—I _love _her. I get a funny feeling whenever I think about her. It's like there's a thousand butterflies flying around in my stomach and whenever I'm around her I can't stop smiling and then when I smile she smiles and it keeps going back and forth until we start laughing together, but we don't kiss on the lips, Ma. I promise. I'm not ready for kissing."

"It's okay for you to like girls," Angela said as she placed her hand on Jane's shoulder. "And, as much as I'd like to, I can't stop you from growing up. Maura is a sweet girl and she's everything I want for you, but you aren't old enough to have a girlfriend."

"What?" Jane asked in disbelief. "But I was going to ask Maura to be my girlfriend today! That was her gift! This isn't fair, Ma. I'm not a little girl. I'm a preteen now."

"You just said it," Angela pointed out. "You're a preteen. You're not a teenager yet, Janie, but when you are you can have a girlfriend."

"But that's so far away," Jane groaned. "I'm never going to grow up. I feel like I'm going to be a kid forever."

"You'll grow up," Angela reassured her. "And it'll happen so fast. Right now you're ten and you have your first crush. In three years, Maura will be your girlfriend and, in eight years, you'll be saving up your all your money so you could take her to the prom and Constance and I will be there with our cameras taking pictures of the two of you no matter how many times you both tell us to stop. Everything is going to change for you, Jane, and I want you to enjoy these years you have with Maura. Don't try to grow up so quickly. You're still a kid, Jane. Enjoy it."

Jane was given no time to allow her mother's advice to sink in before she heard the doorbell ring. "I'll get it!" she shouted as she sprung from her chair. She knew it was going to be Maura and she didn't want to spend another second without her.

Maura had changed from the marker-stained skirt she had worn to school into a dress that Jane had never seen before. "Is this new?" Jane asked once Maura was seated next to her on the couch in the living room.

"Yes," Maura smiled. "I bought it just for today because I knew I was going to see you after school. Jane, you actually pay attention to my outfits?"

"Sometimes," Jane blushed. "You look really pretty, Maura. You always look pretty, but you look really pretty today, too."

"Thank you." Maura nervously bit her lip before leaning in to kiss Jane on the cheek.

"You look really, really, really pretty," Jane said in hopes of getting another kiss.

As Maura was about to kiss her on the cheek for a second time, Frankie and Tommy started making gagging noises. "This is gross!" Frankie told them.

"Yeah," Tommy agreed. "Jane, don't you know that kissing is how you get cooties?"

Maura winked at Jane's brothers before giving Jane another kiss on the cheek. "I love Jane's cooties."

Maura's statement was the final straw for Angela. "Girls!" she called out from the kitchen. "Why don't you two play outside?"

"But, Ma, it's cold out there," Jane brought to her attention. "Maura and I want to watch TV."

"We could kiss outside," Maura whispered into Jane's ear.

Angela wasn't quite sure what Maura had just whispered to Jane, but judging by the way Jane blushed, she knew it was something she'd be against. "On second thought, go watch cartoons with Frankie and Tommy."

"Can we go to my room?" Jane asked. "There's something I—"

"No!" Angela interrupted. "I want you two in the living room where Frankie and Tommy could keep you from kissing."

…but not even Frankie and Tommy's teasing could keep the two of them from kissing. No more than ten minutes had passed before Angela walked into the living room and saw a love struck Jane and Maura holding onto each other and playfully arguing over who was the cutest.

"You're the cutest," Maura told her as she placed butterfly kisses on Jane's cheek.

"No, _you're _the cutest," Jane argued before she started to tickle her. The giggles Maura elicited in response to being tickled were yet another reason why Jane argued that she was the cutest.

"Jane and Maura, I want you to separate, now!" Angela demanded. "Janie, get on one couch. Maura, you get on the other."

Maura gave Angela a worried look. "But Jane can't hold me if we do that."

"Exactly," Angela pointed out. She sat in the living room with all four of the children in hopes of stopping Jane and Maura, but it wasn't long before they were gazing adoringly at each other from across the room.

"I love you, Jane," Maura sighed. "I love you so much."

Jane blew her a kiss that Maura immediately pretended to catch and place on her cheek. "I love you, too, Maura. In three years, you'll be my girlfriend and we won't go through this anymore. We could do whatever we want to do and we'll be alone."

"You're going to be even prettier at thirteen," Maura smiled. "You get prettier every day."

"No," Jane shook her head. "You're the pretty one. I'd say you'd be prettier at thirteen, but you're already beyond beautiful and it's impossible for anyone to be as beautiful as you are right now. I think you're always going to be beautiful forever and ever."

Two agonizing hours of Angela hearing Jane and Maura confess their love for each other passed before Maura's parents arrived to pick up her up

"Maura, don't leave me," Jane said as she held onto her.

While still wrapped up in Jane's embrace, Maura turned to her parents. "Why can't we spend the night together like we used to? I need to be with Jane."

That was all Mr. Isles needed to hear before he grabbed his daughter and carefully flung her over his shoulder. "You'll see her in school on Monday."

"School doesn't start for another sixty hours and twenty-five minutes," Maura pointed out.

"Then you'll see her in sixty hours and twenty-five minutes," Mr. Isles responded.

"No!" Maura called out as Mr. Isles walked outside with Maura still flung over his shoulder. "Jane, I need you!"

"Maura!" Jane shouted. "You'll be mine someday and we'll be married and we won't have to go through this!"

"And they're only in the fourth grade," Constance shook her head.

"I'm looking forward to sweet sixteen," Angela replied sarcastically.

Instead of moping on the couch until bedtime, Angela was surprised that Jane hurried to her room after Maura left. Jane slammed the door behind her. She was furious with her mom and Maura's parents for ruining their Valentine's Day, but she couldn't stay mad when she looked at the pictures of Maura she had in her room.

_Someday soon, _she thought. _Someday soon Maura is going to be my girlfriend and I'll finally be okay with kissing her on the lips._


	7. Fifth Grade

**A/N: Your responses to the last chapter filled me with so much happiness. Thank you! I'm not sure if I should end this at age 18 or 25 but, either way, there is still plenty of Rizzles love left.**

* * *

February 14, 1987

Fifth grade marked the final year of Jane and Maura's elementary school experience. Jane and her classmates enjoyed being the oldest and, therefore, most respected kids in school but they were all nervous about the upcoming transition they were going to face. Middle school meant new opportunities for them, but there was also the possibility of being teased by eighth graders. Jane knew there was a possibility of Maura being bullied, but she was ready to take on anyone who gave the love of her life a hard time. Jane worried about having to switch classes and the two of them only having one or—even worse—no classes together, but it was all a small sacrifice for what Jane had to look forward to. Jane would only be twelve in the sixth grade, but seventh grade marked Jane's entry into her teenage years and the start of having an official relationship with Maura. Being Maura's girlfriend was all Jane thought about, but there were still two agonizing years until Maura would finally be hers. _Two years_, Jane thought. _Two years of homework and tests and getting up early. I'm never going to be thirteen._

What Jane failed to realize was that, although there would be school-related challenges, there would also be two years of holding hands, kisses on the cheek, and two years of growing up with Maura. Everything was changing in their lives, including the way their mothers treated them. Jane and Maura were no longer preschool or kindergarten sweethearts who painted pictures and watched Sesame Street and their mothers weren't going to treat them as such. After their dramatic display the previous Valentine's Day, Constance and Angela sat down with their girls and laid down some ground rules. There were to be no more sleepovers and the girls would be supervised at all times. If Jane and Maura were left alone, even for a split second, they would use that time to sneak in a kiss on the cheek. Kisses on the cheek seemed innocent enough, but their mothers knew these gestures would only hold them over for so long until they decided they were ready to start kissing on the lips.

Constance and Angela thought they were one step ahead of the girls, but what they didn't know was that Jane and Maura would sneak away to a secluded location during every recess period and hold each other until they heard the bell ring. When they arrived at home, they'd talk on the phone until dinner and then after dinner they would get back on the phone so they could do their homework together and talk until it was time for bed. Their conversations were primarily the two of them saying the other was cute or Maura telling Jane facts about Bass. Jane had never been particularly interested in science, but she loved hearing Maura talk so she'd listen to her talk about anything—even science—but she'd never admit that to Maura.

Jane and Maura were too young to go on actual dates and since they couldn't spend time together without a chaperone, both girls were thrilled when they received an invite to a classmate's eleventh birthday party. They weren't particularly close to the birthday girl, but her mother had invited all of her classmates, so Jane and Maura were going to use the party as an excuse to have a date. The party was located at a roller skating rink with video games and a snack bar, so Jane had saved up her allowance for weeks for the sole purpose of treating Maura to a Saturday afternoon Valentine's date.

The girls arrived at the party with their gifts in one hand and their skates in the other. The gifts they had purchased were generic gifts like lip gloss and bangle bracelets, the kind of gifts that preteen girls would get for girls they hardly knew. After wishing their classmate a happy birthday, Jane grabbed Maura's hand and led her over to the arcade. Their classmates were already hyper from all of the candy and punch they had consumed and, although they were all having fun playing games and skating, Jane and Maura weren't in the mood to join them.

"Do you want to play Skee Ball?" Jane asked.

"No," Maura shook her head. "Can we just hold each other?"

While Maura waited for a response, Jane wrapped her arms around Maura and used just about all of her strength to lift her ever so slightly off the ground. "No," Jane ordered. "We can hold each other at recess. It's Valentine's Day and we're on a date. I want you to have fun."

"Everything we do together is fun," Maura smiled. "Except this. Jane, please, put me down now. You're squeezing me too tightly."

"Sorry," Jane blushed. With her feet now firmly planted on the ground, Maura leaned in to kiss Jane's cheek. "Pac-Man?"

"No," Maura groaned. "Jane, do you know how much bacteria the joystick is covered in? Dozens of people play this game each day, many of whom do not wash their hands after using the restroom or blowing their nose."

"Pinball?"

Maura gave her a confused look. "How is that different?"

"You're so much fun at an arcade," Jane said sarcastically. "Every time you tell me about bacteria being on my favorite things I just tell myself, 'Jane, you love her. Remember, you love her.' It's what keeps me from banging my head against the wall."

"The walls are also covered in—"

"Okay!" Jane interrupted. "How about if we get something to eat? Or are you going to get a parasite or something from the food?"

"I could eat," Maura nodded. "They serve personal pizzas here. Remember when we made some at your house two months ago?"

"And I burned mine," Jane added.

"I wasn't going to mention that," Maura insisted.

"Doesn't bother me," Jane said as she grabbed her hand. "Mine was too burned to be eaten so you shared yours with me and I fell in love with you all over again."

"Because I shared my pizza?"

"No," Jane smiled. "Well, yeah, but sharing your pizza shows how much you care about me."

"I'd share anything with you," Maura blushed. "I'd even let you wear my shoes."

"No," Jane gasped. "Maura Isles would let me wear her shoes?"

"Yes," Maura nodded. "I love you, Jane, and I'd do anything for you, even if it means sharing my shoes and having them returned with scuff marks or a torn shoe box."

Maura was willing to share her shoes. Next to Jane, Bass, and her parents, Maura's shoes were at the top of the list of what she loved and the fact that she was willing to share them made Jane feel as if she were falling in love with her all over again—or falling in love as much as she could for an eleven-year-old.

When they ordered their pizzas, Maura was about to hand the cashier a ten dollar bill, but Jane moved her hand away. "It's okay, Jane. My parents gave me money."

"Keep it for something else," Jane commanded. "I saved all my Christmas money and allowance so I could take you on a date and that's exactly what I'm going to do."

Without caring who might be watching, Maura gave Jane yet another kiss on the cheek to thank her. Their pizzas weren't going to be ready for another twenty minutes, so they found a table apart from other party guests. It was the moment Jane had been waiting for and she was having a difficult time calming her nerves. Maura was looking at her in anticipation, but all Jane could do was fumble with the ring she was wearing.

"Maura," Jane squeaked and then cleared her throat. "I don't know where that sound just came from. Maura, I—I…"

"You…what?"

Without saying another word, Jane took off her ring and placed it on Maura's finger. "Happy Valentine's Day."

"This is beautiful," Maura responded, in awe of her gift. She had daydreamed about Jane giving her jewelry for Valentine's Day but they were always adults in these daydreams. Never had she even expected for Jane to give her jewelry in the fifth grade.

"It's my birthstone ring," Jane began. "My grandma was born in the same month as me and her mom gave it to her when she was a kid like us and then she gave it to me for Christmas. I've always thought it was beautiful, but it looks even more beautiful now that you're wearing it. I know I'm too young to have a girlfriend, so I was hoping you'd wear this until we're officially a couple. This way, everyone knows you're going to be mine someday and you'll know that there's no other girl I'll ever want to be with other than you. I promise to be yours and love only you."

"You're the only girl I'll ever love," Maura promised. "And I'm so glad that you chose me to be yours."

"It's always been you," Jane blushed. "And it'll _always _be you."

As if on cue, a slow song started playing over the loud speaker and the DJ announced that it was couples-only. Jane looked at boys shyly ask girls to skate with them and she couldn't help but smile. It was the perfect song and she wanted to ask the most perfect girl she had ever met to skate with her.

"Maura, may I have this dance?" Jane asked and then gently smacked her hand to her forehead. "I mean, Maura, may I have this skate?"

Maura looked around. "What skate?"

"Ugh," Jane groaned. "What I meant to ask was, Maura, will you skate with me?"

Before the song was over, Jane skated hand-in-hand with Maura. While holding her hand, she felt the ring on Maura's finger—a symbol that they were one step closer to being girlfriend and girlfriend.


	8. Sixth Grade

**A/N: And now it's time for middle school Rizzles. :)**

* * *

February 14, 1988

Sixth grade marked the beginning of Jane and Maura's middle school experience. Their greatest fear was being separated throughout most of the day, but when they were informed that they had both tested into honors-level courses, they realized there was no need to worry. Jane and Maura were in every class together except for P.E. and an elective, which were the two slowest classes of Jane's day. Jane sat by Maura in almost every class they had together and, when she didn't sit by her, she was still able to admire her from a nearby desk.

Jane didn't think it was possible, but middle school had proved to be far more enjoyable than elementary school. Unlike elementary school, where boys and girls either didn't like each other or were shy to talk to each other, middle school was filled with couples. Jane had yet to see a same-sex couple, but she knew there would be at least one next year after she asked Maura to be her girlfriend. With only one year left, Jane's mind was occupied by thoughts about Maura. She had always thought about playing games with Maura or kissing Maura on the cheek, but after she turned twelve, Jane's thoughts began to change. She had gone from having innocent thoughts about Maura to _fantasizing _about her. They were fantasies that Jane didn't quite understand and she was too embarrassed to ask her mom what they meant. She wondered if these fantasies were normal even if they didn't make her _feel _normal. The fantasies began after she saw Maura in her training bra while she changed from a sweater to her P.E. shirt when they both ran laps after school for extra credit. There was nothing special about Maura's training bra nor had Maura developed enough to actually fill it, but Maura and her training bra were all Jane could think about.

There were beautiful eighth grade girls who teased their hair and wore makeup and heels, but Jane never gave any of them a second glance. All of her focus was on Maura—Maura, the girl Jane thought was becoming even more beautiful with each day. Jane wasn't sure how or when it happened, but kissing on the cheek was no longer enough for her. Whenever she was face-to-face with Maura, she wondered what it would be like to taste her lips and to have Maura's cherry lip gloss smeared across her own lips. They had kissed briefly in the third grade and Jane wanted to kick herself for being what she considered an 'immature little kid.' _I could have been kissing her lips for years,_ she thought.

Maura had yet to make another attempt at kissing Jane's lips, which made Jane wonder if Maura still wanted to kiss her. Jane and Maura had eased up on the dramatic displays of fourth and fifth grade and Jane had difficulty distinguishing whether or not it was because Maura's feelings for her were starting to lessen or if it was because they had become so nervous about the changing dynamic of their relationship. They _had _begun to show nervousness around each other. Kisses on the cheek—when they actually happened—were few and far in between. There was no longer any hand-holding because every time they attempted to hold hands they became so nervous that their palms started to sweat. Although they were crushing on each other, Jane and Maura had become so distant that their parents—especially their mothers—had started to give them more freedom. They weren't allowed to go on dates yet, but now that they were in middle school they were allowed to attend their first school dance.

Jane had stressed all week about what to wear before deciding on black leggings and an off-the-shoulder red sweater. Her intentions were to wear an entirely different outfit but when she found out Maura was going to wear a red dress, she thought it would be better if they color coordinated so everyone would know Maura was there with her and only her. She had seen a picture of Maura's dress on a model in a teen magazine, but nothing could have accurately prepared her for the moment she'd see the dress on Maura.

When Maura opened the door at the Isles house, twelve-year-old Jane felt as if she was going to faint. There, in front of her, was her dream girl in a strapless (and short) dress in the same hue as Jane's sweater. The bodice was form-fitting, but just below the waistline there was layer after layer of ruffles. Maura teased her hair for the first time and Jane wondered just how much Aqua Net she had used to keep it in place. Although Maura wasn't wearing any makeup, Jane thought she looked more like a music video vixen than a sixth grade girl.

"You look very beautiful, Jane," Maura said as she invited Jane and Angela inside.

Angela looked at her wide-eyed daughter who had yet to stop looking at Maura. "Jane? Janie, are you okay?"

"I'm fine," Jane managed to say after being unable to speak for what seemed like an eternity. "Hi, Maura. Hi, Mr. and Mrs. Isles."

"Can we leave now?" Maura asked her mom. Although Jane was unable to form any words whatsoever, she mentally seconded Maura's question.

"You're letting my little girl leave the house dressed like that?" Mr. Isles asked his wife. "Maura, go upstairs and change."

"No!" Jane responded louder than she had expected. It was the first word she had spoken since saying hello and she mentally chastised herself for having such an outburst. "What I meant to say was Maura looks beautiful."

"You think I look beautiful?" Maura blushed.

"You're the most beautiful girl in the world," Jane responded. Her nervousness had finally subsided and she wondered why it couldn't have done so _after _they had left their parents instead of while they were standing in the same living room as they were.

After Constance and Angela had taken over a dozen pictures of the girls, Jane and Maura were finally dropped off at their middle school campus. The dance was held in the auditorium and, although it was the same auditorium she ate lunch in every school day, seeing how it was decorated with pink and red streamers and paper hearts reminded Jane that so much was on the line that night. The love of her life was standing next to her in a beautiful red dress that she was wearing just for her and Jane had a feeling the night was going to end with a kiss.

Whenever Jane fantasized about her first middle school dance with Maura, she imagined having a type of bravado that was strictly Jane Rizzoli, but when they arrived her fantasies couldn't have been further from the truth. She was too nervous to talk to Maura let alone hold her hand or dance with her. When their sixth grade classmate approached Maura and started talking about dresses, Jane took it as her cue to be chivalrous and get Maura some punch. From the moment they walked in, Maura had been excited about the punch bowl and the authentic adolescent experience that came with attending a middle school dance.

As Jane was about to pour some punch in a paper cup for Maura, she was pulled aside by some of the guys from her P.E. class. While she was joking around with them, she noticed a trend happening in the auditorium. All of the seventh grade and eighth grade students were on the dance floor while all of the sixth grade girls were on one side of the auditorium and the sixth grade boys were on another.

"This bites," Jane's friend Steven said as he leaned against the wall.

"That's because you couldn't get a date," her other friend Josh teased.

"Some ladies man," Steven said sarcastically. "You're here with Belinda and you're not even dancing with her."

"I'm gonna work my magic later," Josh responded. "You gotta keep her guessing, you know? Then I'll do what makes me, me. You got a date, Rizzoli?"

"Yeah," Jane blushed. "I'm here with Maura."

Josh immediately gave her a high-five after seeing how Maura looked that night. "Nice work, Rizzoli."

"When are you going to make a move?" Steven asked.

"I don't know," Jane shrugged. "I can't even look at her without losing my nerve."

"You better get the nerve right now," Josh insisted. "That seventh grade asshole Benny keeps checking her out. He's eyeing her. What if he asks her to dance?"

"Maura won't say yes," Jane scoffed. "She's not like that."

"Maybe not," Josh responded. "But you can do one of two things, Rizzoli. You can stand here dicking around with us for the next two hours or you could dance with Maura and maybe even slip her the tongue tonight."

The thought of Maura's tongue in her mouth was far too much for Jane. "I'm gonna ask her to dance."

Jane felt like a woman on a mission when she made her way from one end of the auditorium to where Maura was standing. "Your girl is here," Jane heard one of the girls say excitedly to Maura.

"Hi," Jane blushed.

"Hello," Maura smiled at her.

"We'll leave you two lovebirds alone," another girl said before whispering something into Maura's ear.

Jane looked around nervously until she was certain that they were alone. "Maura, may I have this dance?"

"Jane, it's a slow song," Maura pointed out. "You don't like slow dancing."

"I don't know," Jane shrugged. "I might like it this time. So, will you dance with me?"

"I've been waiting for you to ask me," Maura responded as she let Jane lead her to the dance floor.

Asking Maura to dance with her took some nerve, but the reward for her bravery was more than worth it. As the music played, Jane tried to take in the moment as best as she could. She was holding on to the girl of her dreams and feeling Maura's body pressed so closely to hers that she could smell the scent of her perfume. _Holding her this way feels so right. I wonder if she's enjoying this as much as I am._

Jane was too busy trying to commit the entire moment to memory that she failed to notice Maura leaning in to kiss her on the cheek. Jane had expected a single kiss on the cheek, but what she hadn't realized was kisses on the cheek were no longer enough for Maura either. In the middle of the dance floor, Maura ever so gently pressed her lips to Jane's. Although they had kissed once in the third grade, this was an entirely new sensation for Jane and Maura and they had yet to realize that a single kiss was going to forever change the nature of their relationship.

"I'm feeling it, too," Maura whispered in her ear.

"Feeling what?" Jane nervously asked.

"What you're feeling for me," Maura responded. "All I can focus on when I'm around you is what it would feel like to kiss you. I'm yours to kiss, Jane, and you could kiss me any and every time you'd like."

With Maura looking into her eyes, Jane couldn't resist Maura's invitation to kiss her whenever she so desired. Jane kissed Maura countless times before the night ended and, although their kisses were chaste in comparison to the way the eight graders kissed, Jane thought every kiss she shared with Maura was even better than the previous one. As her hand brushed against Maura's in the backseat of the car during the ride home, Jane felt the ring she had given Maura a year earlier. _Just one more year until she's my girlfriend._


	9. Seventh Grade

**A/N: Thank you so much for all of your comments. I know some readers are a little concerned with Jane and Maura going a little too fast, but I promise they're not going 'all the way' any time in the near future. And, with this chapter, we have the beginning of Jane and Maura's teenage years. :)**

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February 14, 1989

Now that Jane and Maura had integrated kissing into their list of favorite activities, they felt even closer than ever. They considered kissing to be the most intimate act they could do with the girl they love although, at age twelve and thirteen, they were far from experiencing any of other intimate acts that could be done. Kissing may have been new to them, but they were already looking for new and exciting ways to kiss each other. There were kisses in the snow, kisses between classes, and their favorite type of kisses: kissing with the possibility of getting caught by their parents. They hadn't exactly 'made out' with each other, but just being able to kiss on the lips even if the kisses were chaste was thrilling for the two of them.

They tried to keep their young romance a secret from their parents, but now that Jane was thirteen, she was officially of age to ask Maura to be her girlfriend. Jane wanted to ask Maura the moment she turned thirteen, even if it meant calling her at midnight on her birthday, but she knew it would be better and far more romantic if she waited. Jane was already aware of how cliché it'd be to ask Maura to be her girlfriend on Valentine's Day, but Valentine's Day held so much significance for the two of them that she no longer cared how cliché it might seem to others.

All throughout the school day, Maura kept dropping hints about wanting to be Jane's girlfriend, but Jane's only response would be to change the subject to anything she could possibly think of. There were no Valentine's gifts from Jane or surprise kisses—not even a single acknowledgement of what day it was. By sixth period, Maura had enough. Instead of asking Jane to hang out after school, she decided to spend time in the library and work on her research paper. Maura didn't know that it was all a part of Jane's plan and, by being upset, Maura was actually helping her plan fall into place. She knew she could have gone about it a better way, but Maura was so sure of Jane asking her to be her girlfriend on Valentine's Day that Jane had to do something drastic to add the element of surprise, even if it meant an entire school day without kisses.

When she arrived home from school, Jane took her schoolbooks out of her backpack and replaced them with what she needed for Maura's surprise. Everything had been prepared a week in advance, but Jane's nerves were starting to get the best of her. She thought about changing her clothes, but nothing seemed right, so she changed back into the outfit she wore to school that day.

"I can have a girlfriend, right?" Jane asked for reassurance. "You're not going to change your mind now that I'm thirteen and say I have to wait until I'm in high school?"

"Janie, you've been waiting for this day since preschool," Angela pointed out. "I'm not going to change my mind. I just want you and Maura to be careful."

"Of what?"

"Nothing," Angela responded once she realized Jane had no idea what she was talking about. "Just know that you two are going to be supervised even more now."

"What about when we're in high school?"

"Especially when you're in high school," Angela insisted. "You're both too young right now, but you and Maura are growing up and things are going to change between the two of you."

Jane was even more confused now. "Like what? Maura's always going to be my best friend and now she's going to be my girlfriend, too. What else could change?"

"Janie," Angela hesitated. It was the conversation she had dreaded to have with Jane, but she knew it was necessary now that her daughter wasn't a little girl anymore. She didn't know how to explain the subject to Jane, but she figured she could at the very least be vague and just tell her to wait until she was more mature and she and Maura were both ready.

"Yes?"

"Like I said, you and Maura are growing up and when you two get a little older, there's something you're going to want to do with Maura."

"What? What am I going to want to do with Maura?" Jane asked.

"You and Maura are…" Angela began, no longer sure of what approach to take. "You and Maura are going to have…urges…when two people are in love, they sometimes—"

Jane immediately plugged her ears. "Yuck. Maura and I aren't ready for _that_. That's gross."

Jane's reaction was all the reassurance that Angela needed. Jane wasn't ready for 'the talk' and she'd be able to put it off for at least another year.

Maura was going to be at the library for another hour, so Jane was relieved when she realized she had plenty of time to put her plan into action. Jane had stood in front of the mirror countless times to rehearse what she was going to say when she asked for permission to ask Maura to be her girlfriend, but the moment Jane was seated in the living room of the Isles house with Maura's mom, her nerves got the best of her.

As she had planned to do, Jane handed Constance the rose she had bought just for her, but she had completely forgotten what she was supposed to say so she decided to speak from her heart. "This is for being such a good mom to Maura," Jane began. "I really love Maura and I know I'm going to love her more as I get older. If you let Maura be my girlfriend, I promise to always be nice to her and protect her and…I'm not sure what else I want to say. I just know that I can be a good girlfriend for Maura because I've loved her since preschool and I know I'm going to love her forever."

The sincerity shown by thirteen-year-old Jane elicited a smile from Constance. "You're exactly who I want for my daughter and asking for my permission shows that you have respect for her."

Jane nearly jumped out of her seat. "So, I can ask her?"

"You can ask her whenever you're ready to ask her."

Jane was overwhelmed with emotion. She had been waiting years for this and it was finally going to happen; Maura was going to be her girlfriend.

While Constance left to pick Maura up from their campus library, Jane stayed behind to set up her surprise for Maura.

The first sight to greet Maura when she arrived at home was a heart made out of construction paper that read, "_Happy Valentine's Day_." Judging by the handwriting, Maura knew it could only be one person. "Jane!" she said excitedly to her mom. "She didn't forget Valentine's Day. Is she still here?"

Before Constance could even respond, Maura had taken the heart from the door and entered the house to find another heart on the coffee table. "_I know you're smiling right now. I love the way you smile._" The words on the back of the heart informed her that there were twenty hearts she had to find and after she found her twentieth heart, she could go to the backyard. On the bookshelf was another heart that read, "_I love when you become my encyclopedia mouth. Learning things is more fun when I'm learning from you._"

Maura found all twenty hearts in a matter of fifteen minutes. Each heart listed something Jane loved about her and, although each heart made her smile her favorites were the hearts that read, "_I love the way you rest your head on my shoulder after we kiss._" and "_I love the way you smile at me when you think I'm not looking." _It was like something out of a teen movie and Maura couldn't believe this was happening to her. She clutched the stack of twenty hearts to her chest as she looked at the heart taped to the backdoor. "_I love everything about you._"

Behind it was another heart that read, "_…and I'll love you more each day._"

"Jane," Maura sighed.

When she opened the door, the sight before her was yet another heart on the ground written in sidewalk chalk with the words Maura had been waiting for. "_All my dreams would become a reality if you were my girlfriend._"

"Jane?" Maura called out. "Jane, where are you?"

Jane came out from her hiding spot on the side of Maura's house with a bouquet of nine roses in hand. Roses were expensive, especially on Valentine's Day, but Jane had saved up her allowance just to make everything special for Maura. Before Jane could even hand her the roses, Maura began to kiss her.

"Will you be my girlfriend?" Jane asked, although she had a feeling the kisses were Maura's way of saying yes.

"Yes!" Maura responded. "Jane, I love you so much!"

"These are for you," Jane said once she finally remembered the roses. "There's one for each year you've been my Valentine."

Maura took in the scent of the roses Jane had given her. "They're so beautiful."

"They're not as beautiful as my girlfriend," Jane pointed out. "I have the most beautiful girlfriend in the world."

"No," Maura shook her head. "You're forgetting that _I _have the most beautiful girlfriend in the world."

"I do," Jane insisted.

"I do."

Jane held Maura as close as she could. "I do. I do," she kept saying in between kisses.

"I love you, Jane."

"I love you more."

"No, I love _you _more," Maura insisted.

There was only one way to end a silly little argument with Jane—a way that Maura and only Maura could end an argument with her. She set the roses down on a bench and began kissing Jane. Now that they were a couple, Maura became uninhibited when she kissed Jane. Jane was used to quick pecks on the lips, but now Maura's kisses lasted even longer. The feeling she was getting when Maura kissed her was akin to how she _still _felt when she thought about the time she saw Maura in her training bra back in sixth grade and, although this sensation was confusing her, Jane tried to take in the moment as best as she could.

_I already like having a girlfriend_, Jane thought as they continued to kiss each other. As much as Jane was enjoying the feeling of her girlfriend's lips, she was taken aback when she felt Maura's tongue in her mouth.

"Maura," Jane gasped. "Did you just put your tongue in my mouth?"

The whole situation embarrassed Maura and she wished she could hide. "I'm sorry. I just heard some of our classmates talking about—"

"Are we them?" Jane asked.

"No."

"Did you like putting your tongue in my mouth?"

"I did," Maura admitted. "But I'm not ready to be like them."

"Then let's not be like them," Jane said as she held her close. "I didn't ask you to be my girlfriend so I could tongue kiss you. I asked you to be my girlfriend because I love you. Don't be embarrassed, though. I liked it. I _really _liked it. I just don't think we're ready. Besides, if we keep doing stuff like that, Ma is going to try to give me the sex talk again."

"Your mother tried, too?" Maura asked in disbelief. "My mother gave me the same talk two days ago. She hadn't the slightest clue what to say to me, so I gave the talk to _her_."

"You didn't!"

"I didn't give her the sex talk," Maura laughed. "I spoke the lines that all parents want to hear. 'Mom, I know I'm not old enough.' 'I'm going to save myself until I am ready to emotionally deal with the repercussions that come with being in a sexual relationship.' There's also, 'Jane and I are saving ourselves.'"

"What are we saving ourselves for?" Jane asked.

"I'm not sure," Maura responded. "I didn't even have to say what we were saving ourselves for. It could be prom night, our wedding night—it doesn't matter because all parents want to hear from their children is that they aren't going to have sex in the near future and we aren't."

"This is all so confusing," Jane said as she placed her hands over her face.

In hopes of cheering up her girlfriend, Maura grabbed Jane's hands and uncovered her face. Once she had Jane's hands in hers, she surprised her with a kiss. "I'm hungry. Do you want to pizza?"

Jane immediately perked up after hearing Maura mention pizza. "Yes!"

"Come on," Maura said before gathering her roses and leading Jane inside. "I'll order one for us."

Jane and Maura walked into the kitchen hand-in-hand. Now that they were of age to officially be a couple, they were allowed to hold hands in front of their parents. It was yet another perk of being thirteen that Jane and Maura were going to completely take advantage of.

_I get pizza and a girlfriend on the same day. This really is the best Valentine's Day ever._


	10. Eighth Grade

**A/N: Thank you so much for your lovely comments. Our girls are growing up and headed toward high school, so the rest of the chapters are either going to have a K+ or T rating. I hope you don't mind. :)**

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February 14, 1990

Eighth grade marked the third and final year of Jane and Maura's middle school experience. What they had expected to be the most awkward and difficult three years of their lives had turned out to be some of the best. They were still far from popular, but they had each other and that's all that mattered to them.

Now that they were a couple, Jane and Maura were even more inseparable than before. They weren't allowed to be home alone whenever they visited each other's houses, but they were allowed to hold hands and hold each other on the couch whenever they watched movies together. Being alone with a closed bedroom door was out of the question, but the girls were allowed their privacy from time-to-time. Jane and Maura thought their mothers were being paranoid, but they were grateful that the 'no sitting next to each other' rule from fourth grade was no longer in effect.

The nature of their relationship had also changed. They were girlfriend and girlfriend instead of best friends and, although it was just a label, Jane and Maura used it to refer to each other every chance they were given. Instead of asking if she could visit Maura, Jane would ask, 'Can I visit my girlfriend Maura?' Her parents and her brothers were becoming annoyed, but Jane didn't care. She had waited years for Maura to be her girlfriend and she knew having a girlfriend like Maura was something to brag about.

Jane wasn't sure how it happened, but she had become more chivalrous. She'd walk Maura to class and carry her books for her and, to show her gratitude, Maura would make sure to kiss her before she entered her classroom. They'd leave notes for each other in their lockers, which usually consisted of nothing more than their ramblings about how pretty the other was and their undying love for each other, but they treasured each note and kept them safely tucked away in their respective bedrooms. Jane would always hold doors open for Maura and when they'd sit down for lunch in the auditorium Jane made sure to pull a chair out for Maura.

For their first anniversary, Jane had wanted to do something romantic, but an upcoming history test had put a stop to their plans. It wasn't the first time they had studied for that particular test, but with the test scheduled for the next morning, they didn't want to be too confident and go without a bit of last minute studying the night before.

Mr. and Mrs. Isles had plans for Valentine's Day and with Frankie and Tommy's friends at the Rizzoli house, the girls had no other option than to spend an evening alone at Maura's house so they could study.

Their books and study guides were in front of them on the kitchen table, but all they could focus on was each other. Jane reached for Maura's hand across the table and she rolled her fingers between hers as they both tried to read.

"We know this," Jane pointed out. Her statement broke the ten-minute long silence between them that resulted from them pretending to study.

"The test is tomorrow morning," Maura brought to her attention. "History is our first class."

"And today is our anniversary," Jane argued. "Our _first _anniversary. Do you want to spend it studying for a test we already know we're going to pass or do you want to do something special?"

"We could go swimming!"

"I don't know," Jane hesitated. "I was thinking we could watch a movie together and cuddle."

"You said special," Maura reminded her. "Why would we do something that we do every weekend if you want to do something special?"

"I don't have a bathing suit."

Maura had gotten up from her chair and quickly made her way over to Jane. As fun as it'd be to swim with Maura, Jane knew swimming with Maura meant seeing Maura in her bathing suit and she wasn't quite ready for that. Jane had never been self-conscious about her body, but she was nervous about being so exposed in front of her girlfriend. _She's just as nervous as you are_, Jane tried to tell herself, but when Maura nearly pulled her out of her chair she knew she couldn't be further from the truth.

When they reached Maura's bedroom, Jane made herself comfortable on Maura's bed as she grabbed a bikini for herself and one for Jane.

"I'm not ready," Jane admitted.

"What aren't you ready for?"

"This. I'm not ready to get dressed in front of you…or get undressed."

Maura tossed a bikini to Jane. "You can change in here and I can change in the bathroom."

"No," Jane shook her head. _Time to grow up, Jane._ "We can both change in here, just promise you won't look at me."

Jane became nervous all over again when Maura failed to respond. Instead of promising, she turned to face one wall and Jane faced another. Curiosity was getting the best of her and Jane had the strongest desire to look at her girlfriend. Her bikini bottoms were already on, but once her t-shirt and bra were off, she noticed Maura looking at her bare chest. Never in her life had Jane felt so embarrassed. When she immediately crossed her arms over her chest, Maura started to smile.

"I peeked," Maura confessed.

"I know."

"How would you know unless you attempted to peek at me?"

It was a valid point and Jane wasn't quite sure how to respond. She _had _attempted to peek at Maura, but Maura had changed into her bikini quicker than Jane had expected. Still unsure about how she should verbally respond, Jane playfully tackled Maura onto her bed. Maura tried to wiggle herself free underneath Jane, but it was no use. Jane had her pinned down and Maura soon realized it'd be more beneficial if she stopped being playful and just held Jane close to her.

"Jane, are you cold?" Her question took Jane by surprise. She didn't have goosebumps and she wasn't shivering, so why did Maura think she was cold? Jane had waited for a long, scientific explanation from Maura, so she was taken by surprise yet again when Maura playfully tapped her finger to Jane's right nipple. "It's slightly erect."

"Maura!" Jane gasped. "Maybe we should get dressed and get back to studying."

"Or we could get under the covers," Maura suggested.

The thought of getting under the covers with her made Jane's entire body start to tingle. She knew what getting under the covers could possibly lead to, but when Maura cupped her face in her hands and looked at her with so much love in her eyes, Jane overcame her nervousness. "Let's make it even," she said as she undid the clasp on Maura's bikini top. Maura offered her no resistance. She untied the final knot and set the bikini top at the foot of her bed.

"Jane?" Maura looked over at her. "Are you feeling okay?"

"Yeah," Jane responded, no longer able to stop herself from blushing. "When we were in sixth grade, I saw you in your training bra and—"

"I'm still wearing that size," Maura groaned.

"Yeah, but you've filled out a little more," Jane added. "I've noticed. I mean, I don't stare directly at your chest when I'm with you. No, wait, I do. I'm not going to lie to you about that."

Maura grabbed her hand. "It's okay, Jane."

"It is?"

"It is," Maura reassured her. "I like when you look at me."

"I'm looking at you right now. I can't stop looking at you. I keep thinking about that time I saw you in your training bra and I thought that was one of the greatest things I've ever seen, but this is so much better. You're so beautiful, Maura. Your body is beautiful. Everything about you is beautiful."

Jane watched as Maura carefully pulled her comforter and bed sheets down just enough for them to get in between. It wasn't the first time Jane had been in Maura's bed, but it was the first time she had been in her bed while wearing nothing more than a pair of bikini bottoms. Jane's nervousness had returned, but her girlfriend was so ease.

"Maur, are we—"

"No," Maura said softly. "We're not ready yet."

"Then what are we doing?"

"Shush," Maura said as she held a finger up to Jane's lips.

Jane playfully kissed Maura's finger. "You did _not _just shush me."

Paying no attention to what her girlfriend had just said, Maura rested her head on Jane's chest. "I'm listening to your heartbeat."

"Something wrong with me, Dr. Isles?" Jane quipped. She was nervous about Maura's head on her chest and wanted at least _some _levity in that moment.

"It's soothing."

Maura was right—it _was _soothing. The more Jane was able to calm herself and just enjoy the moment for what it was, the more she realized this was, perhaps, the best moment she had ever had with Maura. They weren't making out and there weren't any intentions of taking anything to the next level, yet it was such an intimate moment between the two of them.

They had kissed once while Maura was on top of her and, during that single kiss, Maura's mom walked in without any warning.

"Maura Dorthea Isles!" No longer able to look at the sight before her, Constance closed the door and waited for her daughter to get dressed.

Jane wanted to hide under the covers. "This is bad. This is _very _bad."

"We'll explain what we were doing," Maura insisted. "Jane, everything is going to be okay."

The girls scoured the room for their clothes and underwear, no longer caring if they saw each other fully naked as they changed from the bikini bottoms into their clothes. When they opened the door, they noticed Mrs. Isles was no longer waiting for them.

"Mom?" Maura called out.

"Mrs. Rizzoli is on her way," Constance responded. "The four of us are going to have a talk."

"_A _talk or _the _talk?" Jane whispered to Maura.

Fifteen agonizing minutes later, Jane and Maura were in the living room with their mothers. They wanted to explain themselves, but they had a feeling their mothers weren't going to let them get a word in edgewise, so they sat down next to each other on the couch, holding hands to reassure each other that they weren't in this alone.

"No holding hands right now," Angela commanded, but Jane refused to let go of her girlfriend's hand. Instead, she pulled Maura toward her and let Maura rest her head on her shoulder.

"I'm not letting go of her," Jane insisted. "Maura and I love each other and you're not going to separate us."

"We thought we could finally trust you," Constance began. "You girls were left alone for two hours so you could study and this is what happens."

"It's not what you think," Maura told her mother. "Jane and I are saving ourselves until—"

"I don't want to hear it, Maura," Constance interrupted.

"But it's the truth," Jane said in defense of her girlfriend. "Maura isn't lying to you. We weren't having sex. We have self-control. We don't just paw at each other the moment we're left alone."

"Jane and I are a couple," Maura began. "We're in a committed relationship and it's normal for us to be curious about each other's bodies. That's what you witnessed. It was just our innocent curiosity."

"Innocent?" Angela asked in disbelief. "You call being on top of Jane while you're naked _innocent_?"

"We weren't naked," Jane pointed out. "We were wearing bikini bottoms."

"What if I would have walked in ten minutes later?" Constance asked. "Would you still have been wearing them?"

"I was just holding your daughter. Had you walked in ten minutes later we probably would have been asleep," Jane snapped.

"Jane Clementine Rizzoli, you will _not _take that tone with an adult," Angela warned. This whole situation was staring to make Jane angry. She knew what she had done with Maura wasn't exactly innocent, but it wasn't wrong either. They had no intentions of having sex and they had done nothing more than hold each other.

Maura looked into her eyes. "All I wanted was to hear your heartbeat."

"To see if it really skips a beat when I'm around you?" Jane asked in hopes that it would cheer Maura up. "Maura, I love you so much."

"I love you, too, Jane."

"Why can't you two believe us?" Jane asked their mothers, well aware that she had raised her voice. "Why can't you believe that Maura and I love each other and it's love in the purest form? Yes, we think about sex, but that's normal. I can look at Maura's body and appreciate her beauty without having some uncontrollable urge to have sex with her. We can just hold each other and that's enough. Maura and I are waiting until we're older because even though we love each other now we know we'll love each other even more later and we'll be more emotionally ready for sex."

Maura couldn't stop herself from smiling. "And it'll be even better!"

Her girlfriend had just ruined her argument, but Jane thought her little outburst was adorable. Without caring that their mothers were watching, Jane kissed Maura right then and there.

"Three weeks," Angela interrupted. "You're grounded for three weeks."

"Three weeks seems fit," Constance agreed.

"Three weeks?" Jane asked. "We're grounded for three weeks? Really?"

"Three weeks is fair," Maura immediately added. Three weeks without Jane was cruel and unusual punishment for her, but she knew their mothers were capable of making their punishment last much longer.

Before Jane left, she was allowed two minutes of privacy to say goodbye to Maura. They were going to see each other the next day at school, so instead of talking they spent nearly the entire two minutes kissing.

"I know the perfect make out spot on campus," Maura whispered in Jane's ear.

Jane playfully lifted her up. "Have you been taking other girls there?"

"No," Maura responded in between kisses. "I read there by myself that day you were absent. We could go there every lunch period from now on. Being grounded for three weeks only means no making out after school."

"But no one can stop us during school hours," Jane realized. "I love my genius girlfriend." They had approached the two-minute mark, so Jane stole one more kiss before finally letting go of Maura.

Jane was trying to abide by the rules, but Maura wasn't quite ready to let her leave. "Happy anniversary, perfect girlfriend."

"Happy anniversary, even more perfect girlfriend."

The girls were caught kissing yet again, but no more time was added on to their punishment. The next three weeks were going to be long for Jane, but with the mental image she had of being in bed with Maura earlier and the make out sessions that Maura had planned for their lunch break, Jane knew it was all more than worth it.

_And it'll only get better when we're in high school._


	11. Ninth Grade

**A/N: Our girls are in high school now and, although they're no longer Baby Rizzles **(thank you so much for the term ireallyneedalifeoutsidetv)**, I promise there's still plenty of fluff ahead.**

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February 14, 1991

Jane and Maura were only six months into their high school experience and they were already missing middle school. High school was supposed to bring freedom and independence for them, but all they had experienced so far was a busier schedule and less time for each other. Jane had tried out and successfully made three varsity teams: softball, basketball, and field hockey. While Jane was busy with sports, Maura had become active in clubs. The clubs she was involved in were primarily academic clubs, but they were Maura's only social outlet outside of the time she spent with Jane. Maura was considered a nerd and a geek by most of their peers, especially the seniors, but Jane always stood up for her. Maura was her Poindexter and she wouldn't have it any other way.

Unlike previous years, they weren't spending as much time with each other because of their schedules, but Jane found herself constantly missing Maura and longing for her. Whenever she was alone, she'd reflect on her past with Maura and what she wanted for their future. At fifteen-years-old, Jane was far from making too many decisions about her future, but there was one detail that was for certain, she couldn't imagine a future without Maura.

Jane couldn't quite pinpoint the moment it had happened, but her feelings for Maura had changed. She had loved Maura since preschool, but what she felt now was completely new to her. Instead of _loving _Maura, Jane was now _in love _with Maura. She was no longer a girl-crazy pre-teen and she no longer had the constant fantasies of Maura in her training bra. She still fantasized about Maura, but her fantasies had changed. Whenever Jane thought about her, her mind was filled with images of herself holding Maura and being there for her—of them being there for each other—and Jane knew this feeling was going to last for the rest of her life.

Over the past few months, Maura had become more than her girlfriend; she was now Jane's safe haven. When she had a bad day at school, Maura would be right by her side doing anything she could to cheer her up. They still kissed in between classes, but the highlight of Jane's school day was their lunch period because she'd finally have enough time to hold Maura. Holding Maura felt right—it had _always _felt right—but now it was all that Jane wanted. Regardless of how her day had started out, if she was able to hold Maura for even the slightest moment her day would change for the better.

Jane had wanted to have a romantic evening with Maura for their first Valentine's Day in high school, but after her basketball game she was too exhausted to go anywhere. Maura, being the always-sympathetic girlfriend, decided to take over their Valentine's Day celebration. Now that Jane and Maura had calmed down and no longer spent all of their time making out as they did in middle school, their parents trusted them to be unsupervised at home. Having a closed bedroom door was pushing it for Angela but Jane and Maura explained it was a special occasion. When that didn't work, Jane made a confession to her mother regardless of how it might make her look in front of her girlfriend.

"Maura and I aren't going to do anything," Jane promised. "Even if we wanted to, I'm way too tired for sex."

"Jane and I are still virgins," Maura added much to Jane's chagrin.

With that being said, Angela let Jane and Maura have their privacy. Jane hadn't expected to have company, so her room was slightly cluttered. Maura pretended not to notice, but Jane could see her girlfriend start to cringe.

"I'm sorry about the mess," Jane muttered.

Maura set a carrier down next to the bed and grabbed the one Jane had been holding. "You're exhausted."

"Having you here makes everything better," Jane pointed out. "You and our Rizzoli twins."

That semester, Maura had registered for a home economics class as an elective and she was now in the middle of a two-week assignment on parenting. For the assignment, every student would care for a doll as if it were a real baby. They had to have the baby with them at all times and when they were unavailable they had to hire a babysitter or leave the baby with a relative. Throughout the duration of the assignment there were activity logs to complete which listed the baby's daily activities and the parent's schedule. Out of the thirty students in her class, Maura was the only student chosen at random to have twins, which meant she'd have two carriers to take with her to school and two babies to care for. At first, Jane thought the assignment was annoying, but the more time she spent with Maura and the babies the more she started to enjoy it.

To take some of the pressures of parenting off of Maura, Jane opted to be a co-parent although she wasn't in the class. So Maura wouldn't have to take two carriers to every single classroom, Jane would take one of them and they'd switch throughout the day so the Rizzoli twins could have equal time with both mommies.

Jane was a proud parent and she spent as much time with their twin boys, Matthew and Tyler, as she possibly could. Jane and Maura took their sons everywhere they went and Jane's basketball game was no different. For the game earlier that day against their rival school, Maura had written the name of their school in puffy paint on a onesie and 'Rizzoli' on the back so everyone could know who their mommy is. With Maura and their boys cheering her on, Jane knew there was no way she could lose. Jane may not have been the star player of the game, but she never missed a shot and her school won by fifteen points.

With their boys 'asleep' in their carriers, Jane was finally able to relax. She pulled Maura on top of her and, unlike the previous year, the girls had no intentions of taking any risks. Instead, Jane held Maura on her bed as they looked at their sleeping babies.

"I know they're dolls, but they're beautiful," Jane remarked as she gently stroked Maura's back.

"Do you ever think about having children someday?"

"Not until now," Jane admitted. "I feel as if I _was _a child until now. Having our twins really changed how I feel about starting a family. I like co-parenting with you and I like that you gave them my last name. I'm hoping it'll be your last name someday."

"It will be," Maura reassured her. "I have to fill out Matthew and Tyler's activity log. Will you help me?"

"Of course, I'll help you. They're my boys, too," Jane responded as she watched Maura get her notebook out of her backpack. It wasn't the first time Jane had seen the written portion of the assignment, but now that their time with the Rizzoli twins was nearing an end Jane noticed that Maura's notes were even more meticulous. Instead of a list of daily activities like her classmates had written, Maura had a list for each of their boys and activities were color-coded depending on whether they were with both of their parents or one parent.

Maura grabbed a black pen and wrote on both activity logs, "_6 p.m.-8 p.m.: Tyler and Matthew sat in their carriers next to Mommy Maura and watched Mommy Jane play basketball against our rival school._"

Jane scooted next to Maura on the bed. As adorable as she thought the assignment was and as much as she loved their twins, it was Valentine's Day and Jane had other plans for her girlfriend. "9 p.m.," Jane whispered. "Tyler and Matthew are asleep and Mommy Jane has a surprise for Mommy Maura."

Maura gingerly closed her notebook and set it down on the foot of Jane's bed. "What is it?"

"Ten years ago, I asked the most beautiful girl I had ever seen to be my Valentine."

"It's our tenth anniversary," Maura beamed. "It's our second anniversary as a couple, but our tenth anniversary as Valentine's! Ten years means it's our tin anniversary."

"I knew you'd say that," Jane laughed. "So, I got you a tin can."

"A tin can?" Maura asked. She tried to be happy, but Jane could sense her girlfriend's disappointment, which is exactly what she had hoped.

Jane gave her a quick peck on the cheek before leaving Maura's side. Her gift for Maura had been hidden under the bed and, although it was nothing special on the outside, she couldn't wait to see Maura's reaction when she opened it. "Here's your tin can. Only the best for my girlfriend on Valentine's Day."

Jane had replaced the tin can lid with a Tupperware lid so Maura wouldn't risk cutting her finger on sharp edges. It was yet another way Jane had wanted to show her girlfriend that she'd always be looking out for her. Maura wasn't sure what she had expected to find in that tin can, but she had hoped it would be something other than a strip of paper that read, "_Happy Valentine's Day. Love, Jane._"

"Jane, it's—"

"It's not your real gift," Jane interrupted. "Maura, did you really think I'd give you a tin can for Valentine's Day?"

"It's the tin anniversary," Maura reminded her. "Tin is appropriate for this anniversary, but I had expected something more romantic or thoughtful."

"Like this?" Jane asked as she pulled Maura's real gift from underneath her bed. "I've been working on it for weeks now."

Her gift might have been overly sentimental and she endured hours of torment from her brothers for making it, but Jane knew Maura was worth everything she had to endure. Jane smiled the entire time Maura flipped through the pages of the photo album she had put together just for her. The album was in chronological order from preschool until ninth grade and the girls couldn't believe how much their lives had changed over the past ten years. There were pictures of them playing with blocks, matching toothless smiles from first grade, and pictures of them when they were in the spelling bee. As they flipped more of the pages, they saw pictures their mothers had taken of them before their first dance and the day Jane asked Maura to be her girlfriend. There were also pictures of them at their middle school promotion and a picture that Jane's teammate had taken of them kissing. Underneath the picture of them kissing were the words, "_I went from loving you to being in love with you_."

Jane was surprised to see that her girlfriend had been rendered speechless. "I'm in love with you, Maura, and I left so many blank pages after this one because there's still so much I want to experience with you and so many memories I want to make with you."

"I'm in love with you, too," Maura confessed. "The realization scared me at first."

"It still scares me," Jane added. "Our parents always knew it would happen and I think we both knew it would eventually happen, but nothing could have prepared me for this."

Just as she had earlier, Maura rested her head on Jane's chest when they lied down. "It's comforting now that I know the feeling is mutual. We're young, Jane, but we already know who we're going to spend the rest of our lives with."

"I didn't propose," Jane teased.

Maura cupped Jane's face in her hands. "You will eventually."

Jane stroked Maura's hair as she fell asleep on top of her. It had been a long day for the two of them and Jane was grateful for this time she had with Maura.

When her mom knocked on the door, Jane knew she had absolutely nothing to hide. "I can drive Maura home," she told them, but Maura didn't even stir.

"She's fast asleep," Jane told her mom. "And it's starting to rain even more. Can she spend the night?"

"You're fifteen, Janie. You want me to let your girlfriend sleep in the same bed as you?"

"We're not going to do anything," Jane promised. "Please, just let me hold her."

Angela could hear the sincerity in Jane's voice. Her daughter had grown up so much in the past year and she was willing to give her the benefit of the doubt now that Jane and Maura had proven their feelings for each other were more than just a physical attraction. "Just this once, Janie. I don't want you thinking this is going to happen all the time."

"Just this once," Jane agreed. She smiled at her mom, although she felt like running over to her and giving her a hug for letting Maura spend the night.

When they were alone again, Jane looked at the Rizzoli babies fast asleep in their carriers and Maura still sleeping in her arms. That night was a preview of what she had wanted for their future and, for the first time since they were children, Jane fell asleep holding on to the love of her life.


	12. Tenth Grade

February 14, 1992

Less than a week before Valentine's Day, Jane had taken and passed her driving test. Her parents were in no hurry for her to start driving and Jane could only get a car if she had a job and saved her money, but Jane wasn't too concerned with having a car of her own just yet. All sixteen-year-old Jane wanted was the freedom to take Maura out on a date for Valentine's Day. When her sophomore year ended, Jane would focus on getting a job and saving up for a car, but in that moment all Jane cared about was being alone with Maura.

Now that they were both taking honors classes, Jane and Maura saw each other throughout most of the school day, but it still wasn't enough for them. Maura went to all of Jane's games and practices and Jane even started to attend meetings for the clubs Maura was involved in. The majority of their time was spent doing homework and, because they were in the same classes, they used that as an excuse to always do their homework together. Jane and Maura were keeping each other on track and their parents were thrilled with the grades the girls were receiving, so they allowed them to spend as much time together as they wanted as long as they remained a positive influence on each other.

All week Jane had tried to think of something she wanted to do with Maura or somewhere special she wanted to go with her, but nothing she could think of felt right. She thought about a drive-in movie, but the thought of other teenage couples having sex in nearby cars while she was trying to cuddle with Maura was a bit of a turn off. She thought about taking her to dinner, but that was generic and nowhere near romantic enough for Valentine's Day. With nothing particular in mind, Jane decided she was going to wing it. What mattered to her wasn't where they went, but the fact that she was able to borrow her mom's car and use it to go anywhere she wanted with Maura.

"I'll be home by midnight," Jane promised.

"Ten," Angela argued. "Your curfew is ten o'clock, Janie."

"Eleven."

"Ten or I'm not giving you the keys and you're spending Valentine's Day in your room _without _Maura."

"But it's seven," Jane groaned. "That only gives me three hours with her and some of that time is going to be spent driving to her house to pick her up and then driving back here after I've dropped her off."

"Well you should have picked her up earlier," Angela pointed out.

"Please?" Jane nearly begged. "If I can stay out until midnight tonight, I won't go out for the rest of the month."

"That's because you'll be grounded if you stay out until midnight. Your curfew is ten, Janie."

"I'm sixteen now," Jane argued. "I shouldn't have the same curfew as Frankie and Tommy."

Angela knew the day would eventually come when Jane was able to go for a drive with Maura, but she still wasn't ready to let go of her little girl. "Frankie and Tommy are three houses down and they're playing video games with friends. You're going to be who knows where doing I don't even want to know what with your girlfriend."

"Well, we have until ten," Jane began. "And I should probably buy her dinner first and with the crowds on Valentine's Day we'll have to wait longer for a table. That would give us about five minutes for sex and if Maura and I could have sex in five minutes, we'd either have to be really good at it or really bad at it."

"Janie?"

"Yes?"

"Leave now," Angela said as she tossed her the keys. "And after hearing about you and Maura and what you could do in five minutes, your curfew is now 9:55, five minutes earlier than it was originally."

"But, Ma," Jane groaned.

"I could make it 9:50."

Jane grabbed her letterman jacket from on top of the couch and left before their little argument could continue. It was now 7:05 and the more time she spent arguing with her mom, the less time there was to spend with Maura.

When she knocked on the front door of Maura's house, she was surprised to see Mr. Isles open the door instead of Maura. "Hi, Mr. Isles," she said sheepishly.

He looked behind her, so he could get a glimpse of the car parked along the curb. "Who drove you?" he asked. "I don't see anyone in the car."

"I drove," Jane said proudly. "I got my license last week."

"And you expect me to let you drive with my daughter in the car?"

Jane was relieved to see Maura hurry over to her dad's side. "Dad, it's Jane. You've known Jane since she was four-years-old. She's responsible."

"Have you driven at night before?" Mr. Isles asked.

"I've driven every night for the past week just to prepare myself," Jane responded, trying not to let her nerves get the best of her. "I've never gotten a speeding ticket and I got a perfect score on my driving test."

Mr. Isles was still reluctant to let his daughter be in the car with an inexperienced driver, but the pleading look on his daughter's face made him change his mind. "Have her home by 9:30."

"9:30?" Jane and Maura asked in unison.

"It's either 9:30 or spend Valentine's Day in the living room doing homework."

"9:30 is good," Jane quickly responded. "I'll have her home by 9:30."

When they were in the car, Jane became even more nervous than when she was talking to Mr. Isles. Jane and Maura had a new sense of freedom and they could do whatever they so desired yet Jane hadn't the slightest clue where she should take Maura.

"Your hands are supposed to be on ten and two," Maura pointed out as Jane drove down her street.

"Which one of us has their license?" Jane asked jokingly.

"That's unfair," Maura responded. "The only reason I don't have mine is because I won't be sixteen until August."

"You don't even have your learner's permit. You've never even used a simulator," Jane teased. When she glanced over at her while they were stopped at a red light, she noticed Maura look down and bite her lip as if she was trying not to cry. "Holy crap! You're going to cry on me!"

"No, I'm trying not to. It's just that my amygdala and my lacrimal gland have a connection that I can't really control."

When they approached the next red light, Jane leaned in to kiss her. "How about if I have one hand on ten and one hand holding yours?"

"Are you able to control the steering wheel with just one hand? You're still inexperienced."

"Maura!" Jane groaned. "We'll be fine."

Driving with only one hand on the steering wheel was something Jane had never attempted, but she wanted physical contact with Maura. She had already broken one rule, so she figured she might as well break another one while she was at it. Instead of a drive-in or anything else she thought would be generic, Jane kept driving until she reached a secluded location miles away from the city. Jane had broken one of the rules of Valentine's Day—she had no gift for Maura and no traditional date, but what she wanted was to give her an experience instead of something tangible.

"Where are we?" Maura asked once they had parked in a dark, secluded area.

"I have no idea," Jane responded. "But isn't it great? I have my girlfriend with me and we have absolute freedom and privacy for another hour."

"Are we parking?"

"No," Jane responded. "We parked but we aren't parking."

Maura tried to hide her disappointment. "Oh."

"Oh?" Jane asked. "Maura, you want to—"

"I'm not sure," Maura interrupted. "I just really love you, Jane."

"And I love you, too," Jane responded. "I wanted to bring you somewhere you could see the stars and I want to listen to you talk about constellations and different types of stars. It doesn't matter what we're doing. I just wanted to be alone with you, as far away from everyone as we could get."

"I want to look at the stars," Maura told her, although she had no intentions of looking at the stars. She was finally alone with Jane with no chance of being interrupted.

When they were outside, Jane lifted her up so she could sit on top of the trunk. Jane had planned on sitting next to her, but Maura held tight to Jane's waist so her girlfriend couldn't move from her spot directly in front of her.

"This is what you had in mind," Jane teased. "I was trying to be innocent."

"We could be innocent at home and at school," Maura pointed out. She tried winking at her girlfriend, but she accidentally closed both of her eyes, which caused Jane to smile.

When Jane leaned in for a kiss, Maura laid down and pulled Jane on top of her. "Backseat?" Jane suggested.

"Backseat," Maura agreed.

Jane had worried about the possibility of being awkward with Maura, but as Maura made herself comfortable on top of her, Jane realized she had nothing to worry about. Everything felt _right _about what they were doing. She loved Maura and she knew Maura loved her, too.

"We don't have to do anything you aren't ready for," Jane reminded her.

"I know," Maura responded.

What they weren't ready for, Jane wasn't exactly sure and they were too lost in the moment to even care. The love of her life was looking to her to make a move. Sixteen-year-old Jane was no longer grossed out by sex. In fact, having sex with Maura was something that she fantasized about on a daily basis, and she couldn't believe that she now had Maura in the backseat with her. Her girlfriend was more than willing, but Jane just couldn't get herself to go any further than making out.

"I can't," Jane admitted. "I want to and I think about it all the time, but this isn't how I pictured our first time."

"This isn't how I pictured it either," Maura confessed.

"How do you picture it?" Jane asked. "I want to know."

"Why?"

"Because, when it happens, I want it to be everything you've ever wanted and maybe even better."

With that being said, Maura grabbed Jane's letterman jacket from the front seat and draped it over them. She had been worked up earlier, but now all she wanted was to cuddle with her girlfriend.

"I just pictured us in a bed," Maura said nonchalantly.

"There aren't many details in my fantasy, either," Jane added, still a little hesitant to talk about her entire fantasy. "I just picture being with you in your bed."

Maura twirled a strand of Jane's hair around her finger. "When we have more time to learn what the other wants and needs."

"When I can kiss every single freckle on your body."

"And I can do everything I've fantasized about doing to you," Maura whispered in her ear.

Once they were more at ease, Jane and Maura spent the rest of their time talking about the fantasies they had about losing their virginity to each other. It wasn't the first time they had talked about their fantasies, but every other time the conversation involved marriage and having a house together and what careers they wanted. This was the first time they had ever felt confident enough to talk about something so intimate with each other. They knew they weren't ready yet, but if they could talk about it and not be embarrassed, they knew they were on the right path toward being emotionally ready and mature enough for sex.

Jane pulled into the driveway of Maura's house right on time and, since this was the first time no one was waiting for her in the car, Jane was finally able to walk her to her door.

Mr. and Mrs. Isles would probably be waiting in the living room, but Jane and Maura couldn't stop kissing each other.

"I had a nice time," Maura blushed. She was about to take off Jane's letterman jacket until Jane quickly stopped her.

"Just keep it," Jane insisted. "I like when you wear it. My last name looks good on you."

"Jane?"

"Yeah?"

"You have a hickey on your neck."

"And you have one on your chest," Jane pointed out. "You better button up the jacket."

On the way home, Jane tried to think of a way to cover up the hickey, but she had nothing in the car that would work to her advantage. She'd probably be grounded for a week when her mother saw it, but surprisingly Jane didn't care. Her Valentine's Day with Maura was completely worth it.


	13. Eleventh Grade

**A/N: Our girls are becoming young women, but I don't plan on giving this chapter an M rating. It's a little more explicit than T but not quite M. Regardless, I hope you enjoy it and thanks so much for your comments. :)**

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February 14, 1993

The eleventh grade brought more changes for Jane than ever before. She was now seventeen years old and all of her time was divided between school, sports, her job and, most importantly, her girlfriend. Now that Jane had a job, she felt a new sense of independence. Her job at the snack bar inside the roller rink that she and Maura frequented as children paid only minimum wage and she could only work weekends and nights that she didn't have practice, but after ten months of saving all of her paychecks, Jane had finally made enough money to purchase a used car. Her car was only two years younger than her and it wasn't in the best of shape, but it was still Jane's pride and joy. Her car enabled her to get from point A to point B and take Maura on dates anytime she wanted.

With a limited amount of time and money to spare, their dates were never too extravagant, but Maura didn't mind a single bit. What mattered to her was spending time with Jane. They'd mostly return to the secluded spot Jane took them to the previous Valentine's Day so they could be alone. Maura would tell her she wanted to look at the stars, but that was always an excuse for Jane to wrap her arms around her and hold her close. With every night she spent with Jane, Maura was falling even deeper in love with her and she wanted to do something special that showed her just how grateful she was for Jane's love and devotion.

It had started with a conversation they had during their lunch period the day before. As usual, they quickly ate their lunch so they could sneak off to Jane's car in the designated area of the parking lot for juniors. The backseat of Jane's car was their own private, make out spot and they put it to use whenever they were given an opportunity. Sometimes they'd hold each other and whisper sweet nothings into each other's ears in between kisses and other times they'd kiss each other with so much intensity that they'd lose themselves until the bell rang—as what happened the day before.

In the heat of the moment, Jane had let Maura unhook her bra for the very first time. With Jane's shirt still on, Maura couldn't see her girlfriend's breasts, but she could feel them. Jane's skin was soft to the touch and both girls were surprised with how at ease they felt. There was no awkward fumbling as they had always feared and, when they were certain that no one was in the parking lot, Jane finally worked up the nerve to unbutton Maura's blouse.

"You're out of that training bra," Jane remarked as she beheld the sight in front of her.

She knew her actions would torment Jane, but Maura lifted herself up so her chest was eye-level to her girlfriend. "They've grown."

"What?" Jane asked, too focused on her girlfriend's chest to notice a single word she had said.

Before Maura could repeat herself, the bell signaling the end of the lunch period rang. Had their next classes been anything other than AP Chemistry and Trigonometry, Jane would have suggested ditching, but she knew her girlfriend would never agree to ditching her two favorite classes.

Instead, the girls fixed their shirts and double-checked their hair before getting out of the car and walking hand-in-hand to class. Jane had expected them to walk into their classroom as usual, but Maura stopped her at a secluded area and pulled Jane in by her belt loops so she was directly in front of her without an inch of space in between them.

"Trying to work me up even more before class?" Jane asked, although she was enjoying every second of being so close to Maura.

"Tomorrow night is the night," Maura whispered in her ear.

"The night?"

Maura moved her hands from the waistline of her girlfriend's jeans and slowly moved them up and down the length of Jane's sides, resulting in the tiniest goosebumps appearing as Maura made contact with her skin. "I want to make love to you and I know we're ready."

Jane bit her lip in an attempt to keep herself calm, but it was of no use. She had Maura pinned to the wall and she couldn't stop herself from kissing her. Jane knew they should stop, but when Maura slipped her tongue in her mouth Jane could no longer control her actions. If their make out session in the car and the one they were having at that moment were any indicator of what she could expect from the following night, Jane knew she was more than ready to lose her virginity to Maura.

Jane had difficulty falling asleep that night. Every thought was centered on Maura and what they were going to experience together. She thought about every make out session in which her hands would roam Maura's fully-clothed body and how there would no longer be a barrier between her body and Maura's. Jane knew they were both growing up, but her focus was more on her girlfriend and less on herself. At sixteen, Maura was caught between looking like the woman she'd someday be and the girl she once was and Jane took notice of every single change she was going through. With each day, Maura was developing more of a woman's body and just the sight of her turned Jane on more than she'd like to admit. Maura wasn't exactly insecure about her changing body but, as her girlfriend, Jane wanted to make sure Maura knew how beautiful she was. Jane wanted nothing more than to caress every curve and kiss each freckle on her girlfriend's body.

By three in the morning, Jane still couldn't sleep. Performance anxiety had set in for her and she was worried about not knowing what to do when she was finally alone with Maura. Jane and Maura knew nothing about lesbian sex outside of the how-to book that Maura had purchased for the two of them to read the previous month. The book was informative but it did nothing to ease Jane's worries. Making love to her girlfriend wasn't something she could learn from a book. It was supposed to be a beautiful experience that further bonded them as a couple and Jane soon realized how to make love was something that could only be learned by touching and tasting the girl she loved. Maura Isles was the love of her life and, just as she was losing her virginity to Maura, Maura was losing her virginity to Jane. They were both new to this and they were both going to be nervous, but regardless of what happened Jane knew they were still going to love each other. With that in mind, Jane was finally able to fall asleep.

Now that Jane had her own car and proved how independent she could be, there were no questions asked when she left and no demands made other than for her to be home by eleven. There was no sex talk or even an attempt at a sex talk like there was nearly every year and Jane left as quickly as she could, feeling completely grateful that she had dodged the talk.

When she arrived at her girlfriend's house that evening, Mr. and Mrs. Isles were already on their way out. Mrs. Isles greeted her as usual, but Jane noticed Mr. Isles give his daughter a pleading look before turning to Jane and scowling at her. Ever since seventh grade, Jane had practically become a member of the family, so she was thrown off by the look Mr. Isles had given her.

"What's up with your dad?" Jane asked when they were alone in Maura's room.

Maura playfully pulled her girlfriend on the bed with her. "I gave him the talk."

"The talk?" Jane asked in disbelief. "Maura, what did you tell him?"

"The three of us sat down in the living room last night and I told them about the change that is going to happen in our relationship," Maura began. "I said, 'Mom, Dad, Jane and I have been a couple for four years now and we've known each other since preschool. We are very deeply in love with each other and you know that Jane respects me and would never make me do anything I wasn't comfortable with.' They both had an idea what I was going to say next, but they didn't want to assume, so they let me continue. I said, 'Jane and I have discussed the benefits and the repercussions of being in a sexual relationship for the past year. We're in a committed and very loving, long term relationship and we both feel as if we are ready to lose our virginity to each other.'"

Jane wanted to cover her face with a pillow. "Maura, you told them _that_?"

"Yes," Maura nodded. "My mother encourages an open dialogue and she'd rather I receive my advice from her instead of my peers. She knows we love each other and sex is an expression of love. I'm sixteen now and she knows I'm going to be curious about sex and my girlfriend."

"And how did your father react?" Jane asked worriedly.

"He looked as if he wanted to jump out of the window," Maura responded. "And he kept saying how he didn't want anybody pawing at his little girl."

"Maura," Jane groaned. "Your dad knows what we're going to do and he knows that the last time he looked at you near the front door was the last time he'd ever look at his virginal daughter. Next time he sees you, you're going to be impure and it's because of me. That's why he was looking at me that way."

"He has to realize I'm growing up," Maura pointed out. "I'm not a little girl anymore. I'm becoming a woman and I'm going to have the same sexual urges that a woman would have."

Jane shook her head. "I can't do this, Maura."

"Do what?" Maura asked as she removed her dress in a matter of seconds.

Jane looked at her girlfriend standing in front of her wearing nothing but a pair of panties. They were cotton rather than lace, but Jane had never seen anything as sexy as her bare-breasted girlfriend in a pair of light blue bikini underwear. "Nevermind. I can do this."

Maura's dress and Jane's t-shirt and jeans were lying on a pile next to Maura's bed along with their undergarments. After weeks and even months of fantasizing about losing her virginity to Maura, it was finally going to happen, but Jane was too caught up in looking at Maura and _feeling _Maura to fully grasp the situation and the new level of intimacy they were about to experience.

"You're showing all the signs of female arousal," Maura said as she looked at her girlfriend's most private parts. "Tumescence and erection of the clitoris and labia, vasocongestion of the vaginal walls and…" she paused so she could touch Jane for the very first time. "…vaginal lubrication."

"So, this is sex with Maura Isles," Jane quipped.

"You're my girlfriend," Maura reminded her. "And I'm just curious about your body and your responses to what I plan on doing to you."

Without a warning, Jane sat up and playfully tackled Maura. The kisses she placed on Maura's neck tickled her and she couldn't help but smile at Jane. "My girl comes first," Jane commanded. "That's the rule from now on."

Just as she had always wanted, Jane kissed Maura's freckles to put her girlfriend at ease, but the once confident Maura was now quivering underneath her. "We don't have to do this," Jane pointed out.

"I want to," Maura insisted. "I've just never been this exposed or this…wet…and this is just from seeing you naked and the brief moment I manually stimulated your clitoris."

"You're showing all the signs of female arousal," Jane mimicked her girlfriend's earlier observation.

"I can always close my legs," Maura warned her. "I can close my legs, put my clothes on, and we can do Trigonometry homework."

"Even watching you do Trig homework turns me on," Jane admitted.

As her legs were wrapped around Jane's waist, Maura felt Jane's wetness mixing with hers. All of the terminology she had used earlier as well as the nervousness escaped her. _This is so intimate_, Maura thought. When she looked into Jane's dark eyes, it wasn't need that she noticed—it was love, the same look of love she had always shown her.

"I love you," Maura said softly. "I love you so much."

"I love you, too," Jane responded. "I always have and I always will."

It was all the reassurance they needed that their love for each other wasn't going to change. There was always love between them and there would always be love.

With as much love as they had for each other, there was still nothing that could accurately prepare them for that night. Making love for the first time was a life-altering experience for the two of them. They were overwhelmed by the beauty and intimacy that came with entering each other and tasting each other for the very first time. The feeling, the scent, and the taste of Maura's arousal was something only Jane would get to savor and the same went for Maura. They belonged to no one but each other now and forever.

"I don't feel differently about you," Maura admitted as Jane stroked her hair afterward. Just as she had done exactly three years ago, her head was resting on Jane's bare chest. "When my friend Marcy lost her virginity to Greg, she said she felt differently about him and that I was going to feel differently about you, but she was wrong. I'm just as in love with you as I ever was, if not more so."

"Marcy and Greg were a couple for two weeks before they had sex," Jane pointed out. "You and I have been together practically our entire lives. Sex wasn't going to make me love you more or make me more committed to you. You've had me—all of me—since we were four years old. There's only been you and there will only ever be you."

Maura cuddled even closer to her girlfriend and when they kissed she could still taste the slightest hint of herself on Jane's lips. "That orgasm was the best Valentine's Day gift you have ever given me."

As she held her girlfriend, Jane looked at the first Valentine's Day gift she had ever given Maura. It was a drawing of a heart and a tortoise that she had given to her when they were in preschool. Hanging on the wall next to that drawing was the necklace she had made for her on Valentine's Day when they were in kindergarten. They were simple gifts and _innocent _gifts, but those gifts were what led to the mature and loving relationship that they were currently in. Losing their virginity was the most intimate gift they had ever given each other, but as she held on to the girl she loved, Jane thought of an even more special and life-altering gift she wanted to give Maura next year.


	14. Twelfth Grade

**A/N: There's a certain something in here that wasn't quite legal in 1994, but this is a story about two girls being madly in love with each other and I'm not going to let politics stand in the way of that. On a lighter note, I hope you enjoy Jane and Maura's final year of high school. :)**

* * *

February 14, 1994

With three and a half months left until graduation, Jane and Maura's minds were more focused on the future than the present. Their parents told them to enjoy what was left of their high school experience, but the girls wanted high school to end as quickly as possible because the end of high school meant the beginning of their college years and the beginning of their independence. Unlike their peers, Jane and Maura weren't looking forward to the college party scene or casual hookups. Instead, they wanted the opportunity to sleep next to each other every night without interference of any kind. Their intentions were to share a room, so they'd have no pesky party girl roommates. Jane and Maura were eighteen and seventeen years old, respectively, but what they wanted was a domestic life that revolved around each other.

With three and a half long months left until graduation, Jane decided to make the most of her high school experience that day and that day only by doing the unthinkable: she was going to ask Maura to prom. Prom was a teenage rite of passage that Jane had been dreading and Maura had been looking forward to since middle school. Jane knew Maura was going to look beautiful in a formal dress, but Jane feared the possibility of going dress shopping with her mom. If she were forced to go to prom, Jane wanted to wear her outfit of choice and that meant black slacks, a white button-up, and maybe a tie that matched Maura's dress. The two of them talked about prom together, but Jane never showed as much excitement as Maura, which made Maura fear that Jane wouldn't ask her.

What Maura didn't know was that Jane had been saving for the prom since the start of their senior year and the closer they were getting to prom night, the more nervous Jane was becoming about asking Maura to be her date. As girlfriend and girlfriend, Jane had thought there was no need to ask Maura, but once they saw guys ask their girlfriends in special, sometimes over-the-top ways, Jane knew Maura was expecting something similar.

Jane admired their creativity, but she knew nobody at school would be able to top her plans to ask Maura to prom and the added surprise she had for her.

While in homeroom, Maura looked around and noticed that her girlfriend wasn't in her assigned seat—or any seat at all. As was customary, Jane drove Maura to school that morning, but instead of entering the classroom with her Jane had said she forgot something in her car and insisted that Maura go to homeroom instead of returning to the parking lot with her. Homeroom lasted only fifteen minutes and its sole purpose was for morning announcements and unwinding before first period began, but Jane still told Maura that it was important for her to attend that morning.

When the announcements began, Maura was surprised to hear her girlfriend's voice over the intercom instead of the senior class president.

"Good morning and welcome to another beautiful day at—" Jane stopped to look at the principal, completely forgetting to cover the microphone. "Do I really have to say all this?"

"It was part of the deal, Rizzoli," their principal reminded her. Jane couldn't believe she was actually playing the role of class president and making the announcements that she typically made fun of, but then she remembered why she was doing this. _Maura is so worth it._

"And don't forget unique begins with 'u'," Jane said a couple minutes later to close the announcements. "Now, can I take over?"

"Yes," their principal insisted. "Just don't make me regret giving you control over the mic."

"I'm in charge now," Jane spoke into the microphone. Her nerves were getting the best of her and she started to twirl her hair until she remembered how Maura had teased her about that being a sign of sexual frustration. Sexually frustrated, she was not, but Maura would occasionally warn her about that in hopes of keeping an incredibly active sex life with her girlfriend. At eighteen, Jane's categories of thought were divided into five percent school, ten percent sports, five percent miscellaneous, and eighty percent sex. It may have seemed like an excessive amount, but it paled in comparison to what she assumed was Maura's ninety percent focus on sex.

"Rizzoli," their principal said to get her attention. "You've been staring at the microphone for thirty seconds."

_I'm already screwing this up_. _Okay, Jane, this has to come straight from the heart. _She fidgeted with her high school class ring as she tried once again to work up the nerve. "Thirteen years ago, I asked Maura Isles to be my Valentine and she said yes. Sometimes I wonder why she said yes, but what matters is that she said yes and, exactly five years ago today, she became my girlfriend. Happy fifth anniversary, Maura. I love you more with each day that passes and I can't wait to spend the rest of my life with you, so what I'm asking is…what I'm asking is…Maura, will you marry me? And will you go to the prom with me? I'm making an ass of myself in front of the entire school and I'd really appreciate it if you said yes to at least one of my questions."

"Damn it, Rizzoli, you can't say 'ass' over the intercom," their principal said as he grabbed the microphone from her. "Get back to homeroom." Jane had wanted to point out that he had said both 'ass' and 'damn' in the same sentence over the intercom, but judging by the way he was looking at her she knew it was in her best interest to go to class.

Maura buried her face in her hands as their classmates and their homeroom teacher looked at her. Some were happy for them, others thought Jane had lost her mind, but nearly everyone was already forming an opinion on what had just happened. It wasn't the romantic proposal that Maura had dreamed of, but it was a proposal nonetheless and Jane was waiting for an answer.

The moment Jane walked into their homeroom class, Maura got up from her seat and quickly made her way over to her. Without any regard for the classmates who might be watching them, Maura leapt into Jane's arms and knocked Jane over in the process.

"Miss Rizzoli! Miss Isles!" their teacher said in a vain attempt at getting their attention.

"Mrs. Rizzoli," Maura whispered into Jane's ear. "I'm going to be Mrs. Maura Rizzoli."

"Girls!" their teacher shouted. "We're all very happy for you, but there are no public displays of affection allowed in my classroom."

"Sorry," Jane mumbled. There were another five minutes left before the bell signaling the end of homeroom rang, but for the first time in her high school career, Maura didn't care about going to class or upcoming assignments. She grabbed Jane's hand and led her outside to their spot. The place they had nicknamed their spot was a secluded, grassy area not too far from the football field that they frequented during their freshman and sophomore years when they wanted to make out.

"Maura, I—I can't give you much," Jane trembled. They were sitting across from each other on the grass and Jane shifted her gaze from her girlfriend to the grass below them. "But I know I'm going to love you for the rest of my life and—"

"Jane," Maura interrupted. She reached across to grab her girlfriend's hands and hold them in her own. "While we were in homeroom, I told you I was going to be Mrs. Maura Rizzoli. That's all I've wanted to be since I was in kindergarten. You're eighteen and I'm seventeen; neither of us are expected to give each other much in terms of material possessions, but we love each other and that matters more than most people would like to think."

"What about prom?" Jane asked. "Do you want to go to prom?"

"No," Maura shook her head.

"No?"

"No," she reiterated. "Why am I going to shop for a prom dress when I can shop for a wedding dress? We have a wedding to plan, Jane! It'll be _better _than prom! We can get married in April."

In Jane's eyes, there was no sight more adorable than her girlfriend when she was excited. Throughout their relationship, Maura had been excited about kisses and dates and even the occasional science project, but this was the most excited Jane had ever seen her. Without a warning, she pulled Maura on top of her, Maura's golden hair tickling Jane's face and regardless of how many times she tried to brush her girlfriend's hair away a few soft strands would always refuse to cooperate. "You want to get married in April—this April?"

"Yes!" Maura beamed. "This April! We can go on our honeymoon during spring break and you can move into my room and…" she paused when Jane started to laugh. "You think I'm crazy."

"I love you," Jane responded. "And we can get married whenever you want to get married and live wherever you want to live." She was almost overwhelmed by the look of hope and love in Maura's eyes. For weeks she had stressed over how she was going to propose and nothing ever seemed worthy of Maura, but that morning she learned it didn't matter that her proposal wasn't a grandiose gesture because Maura loved her and what mattered the most to Maura was being married to her.

Jane looked at her class ring. It was a women's-sized version of the classic men's ring complete with her birthstone and engraved symbols of all the sports she played. The ring was far from dainty and Maura had chosen a class ring nowhere near similar, but Jane still hoped that Maura would accept it for the time being. "This is just until I can afford a wedding ring," she said as she took off her ring and slipped it on Maura's finger.

Maura looked at the ring on her finger, a symbol of everything they had experienced during their high school career. Looking at the ring reminded her of the all of the nights she spent cheering Jane on at her games, stolen kisses in between classes, hiding notes in each other's lockers, and, most importantly, falling in love and making love for the first time. Every experience no matter how insignificant it might have seemed at the time led them to the moment they were now sharing

Maura's class ring was a simple but delicate gold band with her birthstone in the middle and the name of their school engraved on the left side and '1994' engraved on the right. Maura had designed the ring herself when she was a sophomore and her parents had ordered it for her for her seventeenth birthday. Since the day Maura received her ring, she had never taken it off. Her class ring was her pride and joy, but she didn't so much as hesitate before taking the ring off and slipping it on Jane's finger. "I know it's not your style, but this is all I can give you right now."

Jane ran her finger over the delicate ring that Maura had just given her. "But you love this ring."

"I love _you_," Maura pointed out. "You're getting married, too, Jane, and it would mean so much to me if you wore my ring."

They had already missed their first period class, but neither Jane nor Maura had any intentions of attending their second period class or _any _of their classes that day. The girls had never ditched an entire day of school, but it was their engagement day and they wanted to celebrate. Their celebration was going to take place in Maura's bedroom, but it was a celebration nonetheless.

Jane and Maura had made it no further than the living room when Jane playfully tackled her onto the sofa. "It's our engagement day. Let's do something daring."

Her parents weren't due home until late that afternoon, so Maura realized she'd have an entire house to herself to do anything she wanted with Jane. "There's something I've fantasized about doing with you," Maura managed to say as Jane nibbled on her neck. "I want to make love to you in the shower."

_Shower sex_. It was one of Jane's fantasies, but something she was too embarrassed to ask of Maura, but now that Maura had suggested it Jane wasn't going to waste anymore time. The thought of warm water trickling down Maura's naked body was almost too much for Jane to bear. Without saying another word, she grabbed Maura's hand and led her to the shower in the upstairs bathroom.

Clothes, shoes, and undergarments were quickly and sloppily removed in a matter of seconds, neither girl separating her own garments from the others. The single, unorganized pile of garments now served as a symbol of the new stage in their relationship. There was no longer going to be separation, no 'mine' and 'yours'—everything was _theirs._

Jane and Maura had expected passion and the inability to resist each other as they stood under the falling water, but their reality couldn't have been further from what they imagined. There was no kissing, no caressing—just Maura resting her head on Jane's shoulder and Jane holding onto the girl she wanted to spend the rest of her life with.

"This feels even better," Jane commented, breaking the silence between them.

Maura placed a delicate kiss on Jane's clavicle. "I want you to hold me for the rest of our lives."

"We've grown up together," Jane added. "And now we'll get to grow old together. We'll have careers and we'll get a house together and have children and maybe even grandchildren and I'll tell them all about making you mine when I was five and we'll both hope that they'll find the kind of love that we have and—"

Before Jane could finish her statement, they were interrupted by the sound of someone pounding on the door. "Jane," Maura whispered as she clung to her even tighter. Jane had never seen Maura so afraid and her first instinct was to protect her.

"It's okay," Jane responded, but Maura had started to tremble.

"Someone is in the house."

"I'm going to protect you, just—"

"Maura Dorthea Isles!" they heard Mr. Isles shout as he pounded on the door yet again.

Jane looked at Maura who was now more terrified than when she thought someone had broken into the house. "It's my dad," Maura whispered.

Jane looked at the window in the bathroom. Had they not been on the second floor, she and Maura could have plotted their escape and bought themselves some more time, but instead they were trapped with an angry Mr. Isles waiting for them on the other side of the door. "I almost wish it were an intruder," Jane added. "We'd have a better chance of making it out alive."

"I hear the water running in the shower," Mr. Isles shouted. "And I know you have Jane in there with you. Her car is in the driveway and her letterman jacket is on the couch."

"What happened to your conference this morning?" Maura asked, still refusing to get out of the shower.

"Maura Dorthea!"

Jane and Maura kissed one last time before drying off and mentally preparing themselves to face Mr. Isles. "We're sticking together no matter what," Jane promised.

"This is just like the time we got caught in eight grade," Maura brought to her attention. "We'll be okay and you're an adult now so it's not like your parents can ground you."

"You think that'll stop them?" Jane scoffed. "Me being eighteen means nothing to my parents. I can foresee my mother still trying to control my life fifteen or twenty years from now. She thinks I'm still a virgin, Maur, and I plan on keeping it that way."

When the girls opened the door, they were surprised to see Mr. Isles waiting for them in Maura's room. "He's in my room," Maura whispered. "This is bad. This is _very _bad."

"Sit," Mr. Isles commanded. He had taken a seat on the chair at Maura's desk, so the girls opted for Maura's bed. Out of fear, Maura held tight to Jane's hand. "I'm telling your mom when she gets home and, as for you, Jane, I'm calling your parents and telling them what happened. Don't think you're getting out of this because you aren't my daughter."

"She will be," Maura added. "Jane proposed to me today, Dad. We're getting married this April."

_Bad timing_. _Very bad timing,_ Jane wanted to tell Maura, but instead she just kept her mouth shut and played with the ring on Maura's finger.

"Married?" Mr. Isles scoffed. "You're seventeen, Maura. Where did you plan on having your wedding reception—Chuck E. Cheese's? Was I supposed to write a note to your teachers saying, 'Please excuse Maura Isles from class this week; she's on her honeymoon.''

"You can stop mocking us," Jane interjected. "Yes, we're young, but we're not children."

"Maura is seventeen," Mr. Isles pointed out. "She's a minor. She can't get married without parental consent. Did you two even think about that? Out of all the crazy things you girls have done this makes the top of the list. Not only do you insist on getting married, but I come home to find out that the two of you have ditched school to—to—I can't even say it, and I see my little girl's neck is covered in hickeys. You kids have absolutely no self-control and—"

"With all due respect," Jane interrupted. "Maura and I love each other and want to make a lifelong commitment. We're not kids and this isn't puppy love."

"With all due respect," Mr. Isles mimicked her. "Maura isn't seeing you outside of school for two months and I don't want the two of you to even think about getting married anytime in the near future. You are not engaged and you aren't going to be wearing each other's rings. Maura, I want you to go to the living room. Jane and I are going to have a talk."

Maura was terrified for the girl she loved. "Dad, I'm not leaving her."

"I can make it so that you don't see her outside of school for _three _months," Mr. Isles insisted.

She knew it wouldn't help their situation, but her girl was scared and if her girl was scared Jane was willing to do just about anything to calm her fears. "I love you," Jane said after kissing Maura's lips. "Two months is nothing for us. We've been together since preschool and we're going to be together for the rest of our lives."

"Maura," Mr. Isles commanded. "Now."

"It's okay," Jane whispered into her ear. "I'll kiss you again in a few minutes."

Maura was crying when she left the room and the sight of Maura crying broke the hearts of both her dad _and _Jane. They both loved Maura more than life itself and they both wanted what was best for her, but the two of them had very different ideas of what was best for Maura.

"I know you haven't liked me since Maura and I lost our—since last year," Jane began. "And I know you look at me as some girl who can't keep her hands off your daughter, but I love Maura. I know you love her, too—"

"I don't dislike you," Mr. Isles interrupted. "Believe it or not, Jane, but I was a teenager once and I looked at Constance the same way you look at Maura—I still look at my wife that way, but Maura is—Maura is my little girl."

"She's seventeen," Jane pointed out. "Seventeen-year-olds are far from being little girls."

"Not when that seventeen-year-old is _your _little girl," Mr. Isles smirked. "You'll learn all about that when you and Maura have kids of your own."

"Me and Maura?" Jane asked in disbelief.

"I know you two are getting married someday and you have permission to marry my daughter, but not in the near future. I want her to finish high school first, and college, and medical school, and I'm sure you have career plans of your own, Officer Rizzoli."

"Maura told you?" Jane beamed.

"You're all she's talked about since preschool," Mr. Isles pointed out. "My daughter's love for you isn't going to lessen because you marry her ten years from now instead of in two months. I'll even let you two get an apartment together before that. I just want you both to achieve your career goals before marriage and children become part of the picture."

Jane got up from the bed to shake his hand. "Deal. I just want Maura to be mine and I want to be hers."

"You're a good kid, Jane," Mr. Isles remarked after he let go of her hand. "Maura didn't come into my life in the traditional way that babies come into their parents' lives, but from the very first moment I held Maura, I loved her and I knew the most important role I'll have ever in this life is being Maura's father and, as selfish as this sounds, I'm not ready for anything to change so drastically. She's going to take your name and be yours for the rest of her life. Just give me a few more years of having her as an Isles and my little girl before I see her in her wedding dress and give her away."

It was the first time Jane had ever considered their relationship from his perspective and she was surprised to realize that everything he had just said made sense to her. She wouldn't admit it to anyone, but she could see herself having this same talk someday with the young man or woman her future child would someday marry. "Can I still take her to the prom in April?"

"You can take her to the prom," Mr. Isles responded. "And, Jane?"

"Yeah?"

"I know how your parents are and I know if I tell them what happened, you'll never see the light of day again, but I don't want you thinking you and Maura are going to get away with this. I'm going to tell them that you two ditched school to celebrate your anniversary, but there will be no mention of your engagement and catching you two in the shower. Maura will never forgive me if your parents ground you for the rest of your life. Just consider this your 'get out of jail free' card. You only get _one, _so you and Maura better not get into any more trouble and when you go to prom I want you to have her home by midnight."

Jane was hoping to stay out until two, but she realized she was in no position to complain. "Midnight, it is."

"Jane?"

"Yes, Mr. Isles?"

For the first time in a year, Mr. Isles smiled at her. "Thank you for being so good to her all these years. Maura loves you and needs you, so I'm only going to ground her for a month."

She rarely hugged anyone besides Maura, so she hoped her words would properly convey the emotions she was feeling. "Thank you, Mr. Isles, for being such a good father to her."

When their conversation was over, Jane hurried to her girl. Maura was no longer crying, but Jane noticed her eyes were red and swollen. "Do you have to go home?" Maura asked.

"Not yet," Jane responded as she wrapped her arms around Maura. "Your dad and I talked this over like adults and we came to an understanding."

Just as she had done since they were children, Maura rested her head on Jane's shoulder. "What kind of understanding?"

"I can't marry you yet," Jane said matter-of-factly. "But I have his permission to marry you when we're older. I know you don't want to wait, but it'll be worth the wait when my parents and your parents are excited about our wedding day and your dad walks you down the aisle. I'm the one he's giving you to and the one he trusts you with and I want to do this the right way. It'll be worth it, Maura, I promise. For now, there's still prom and I'm going to do whatever I can to make that the greatest night of your life."

Maura watched as Jane let go of her and reached for her backpack. "Jane, what are you doing?"

"Giving you your other gift." She pulled out a few teen magazines each with a section devoted entirely to getting ready for the prom, and handed them to Maura. "I thought we could look at them together. You have a dress and shoes and accessories to pick out. And what about your hair and makeup?"

"Jane Rizzoli, _my _Jane Rizzoli, cares about this?" Maura giggled.

"I don't know," Jane shrugged. "I guess I care about it because you do. I know you don't like spending hours in a stuffy gym watching me at basketball practice but you go because you love me. I don't care about shoes and prom dresses but I'm willing to spend hours looking through magazines and going shopping for prom because I love you and I want you to be happy."

Maura set the magazines aside and snuggled up to her girlfriend. Prom night was going to take weeks of planning, but at that moment all Maura wanted was to listen to Jane's heartbeat. "You and I are good together."

"I know," Jane smirked. "Maur, I'm not wearing a dress that night."

Maura ran her hands underneath the back of Jane's shirt, the softness of her girlfriend's skin putting her at ease. "You've only worn a dress once in your life and that was the day of your First Communion," Maura pointed out. "Even then, you took it off after everybody was finished taking pictures with you."

"I hated that dress," Jane shuddered. "And I hate the thought of that dress, but you looked cute that day and you're going to look beautiful on prom night."

"Your tie is going to match my dress," Maura demanded.

"Yes, dear," Jane said sarcastically. "It's like we're married already."

Mr. Isles let Jane and Maura spend the rest of the day together under one condition: they do something productive that didn't involve making out on the couch, so the girls reverted to the Valentine's Days of their childhood and spent the rest of their time together making homemade Valentine cards with failed attempts at poetry on them. When they were finished, they taped them to random locations in Maura's room. They took Polaroids of each other with the finished product and, although it wasn't what they had expected from their day, it turned out even better than they had thought it would. For an afternoon, Jane and Maura were able to forget about their plans for the future and focus on being young and carefree like they were at the start of their relationship.


	15. Prom

**A/N: I know this breaks with the usual format of this story, but I received a few requests for a prom night chapter and I just couldn't pass that up. :)**

* * *

April 30, 1994

3:00 P.M.

Maura knew getting ready for prom was a day-long process, but she didn't expect for her mom to wake her up at seven in the morning. Maura quickly showered and ate breakfast immediately after waking up and, by eight o'clock, Maura and Constance were on their way to a spa for the full treatment. It wasn't what Maura had expected before prom, but Constance was willing to spare no expense if it meant getting her daughter to cheer up.

Over the past couple of weeks, Maura had slipped into a depression as a result of her high school years coming to an end. For the longest time, she and Jane had talked about going to college together and sharing a dorm, but with a single decision made by the coaches of the Boston Cambridge University women's basketball team, Jane and Maura were forced to change their plans. Jane had been accepted to Boston Cambridge University, but after being notified that she wouldn't receive the basketball scholarship she had been hoping for, she decided to decline their offer of admission. Jane had come to terms with her decision, but it was affecting Maura far more than she'd like to admit.

Jane was more than her girlfriend; she was her support system and her safe haven and she had been since the first day of preschool. They had been in the same classroom from preschool through fifth grade and, although they didn't share all of the same classes in middle school and high school they'd always see each other during lunch or between classes. Once high school ended, they would no longer have that. For the first time in fourteen years, Maura was going to be separated from Jane and she worried about the effect the separation would have on their relationship and on her emotional well being.

Throughout their day at the spa, Maura had gotten a massage, a facial, and a mani-pedi, but it did nothing to bring her out of her depression. Her thoughts were constantly with Jane and not even prom could cheer her up.

While at the salon with her mom, Maura remained quiet as her stylist did her hair like a style pictured in one of the prom magazines Jane had bought her for Valentine's Day. There were hairstyles far more elegant, but all Maura wanted was a simple hairdo not too different from how she wore it everyday to school.

"You would look beautiful with your hair up," Constance pointed out. "It's prom night, Maura. You've been talking about this night ever since you and Jane became a couple and now you don't even seem excited."

"This is how I want my hair," Maura said as she pointed to the picture in the magazine. "Jane and I chose this hairstyle together. We both like my hair down and my bangs curled. I've been growing my hair out especially for this night and Jane loves my long hair."

"It's not your hairstyle that she loves," Constance reminded her. "Jane loves _you_ and she's worried about you."

"How do you know she's worried?"

"I talked to her."

Maura's eyes grew wide. "You talked to my girlfriend about all of this? How could you do that? Now, she's going to think I blame her for not being able to go to school with me."

For the first time since Maura was a little girl, Constance held her daughter's hand. "She knows you don't blame her. It isn't her fault and it isn't your fault, either. Jane knows the reason she isn't going to BCU is because another girl was given the scholarship instead. She's come to terms with it—"

"Because she's going to be okay," Maura interrupted. "Jane is going to make friends no matter what school she goes to. Jane was never teased. Jane was never…awkward."

"No, but she's sarcastic and offends a lot of people," Maura heard an all-too-familiar voice say.

"Jane!" When Maura turned her head, she saw her girlfriend with a single rose in hand. Seeing Jane standing there in a pair of ripped jeans and an oversized flannel shirt put Maura at ease. Jane's outfit, although cringe-worthy for Maura, gave her a sense of comfort and consistency that afternoon.

"I had to see you," Jane said as she looked around and noticed all eyes were on her and her girlfriend.

After excusing herself, Maura went outside with Jane and she couldn't stop smiling the moment Jane began to hold her, not just because Jane was holding her but also because Jane was trying so hard to hold her without messing up her hair.

"Thank you for the rose," Maura said as she inhaled the scent of one of her favorite flowers.

"You're welcome," Jane responded. "I'd have gotten you a bouquet, but you've tapped me out with all this prom stuff. You're worth every penny, though."

"Do you want to get ready with me?"

"I can't," Jane smiled. "Getting ready with your girlfriend before prom is like getting ready with your wife on your wedding day. It's bad luck."

"Jane," Maura raised her eyebrow. "Why don't you really want to get ready with me?"

Jane squeezed Maura even tighter in an attempt at cheering her up. "You saw right through that, didn't you? I'm going for wings and video games with the guys in a few minutes."

"You're going out to eat wings and play video games with your friends?" Maura asked in disbelief. "Prom is _tonight_, Jane."

"Yes, _tonight_," Jane reiterated. "It's still the afternoon. I'm not going to need three hours to get ready, Maura. Besides, I already got my manicure."

Maura was apprehensive about Jane's manicure, but when she held her girlfriend's hands in hers she saw that she still had short, unpolished nails. "Jane, they're the same."

"Not exactly," Jane pointed out. "I smoothed out the edges a little bit and made sure my nails are cleaner than ever. Your manicure is for looks. Mine is purely functional. Short, unpolished nails are going to come in handy _after _prom."

Maura playfully pinched her girlfriend's arm. "Jane!"

"Prom ends at midnight," Jane reminded her. "Your parents _and _mine are letting us stay out until two in the morning because they think we're going to an after-prom party. I mean, we are, but they don't know it's just the two of us."

"We're going in my dad's Mercedes, Jane. I'm _not _having sex in his car."

"You have no faith in me," Jane quipped. "But I love you anyway."

"I love you, too," Maura responded. "Go eat wings with the guys. I can see Josh and Steve making fun of you from right here and Greg looks like he's going to do a drum solo on the dashboard."

"I'm glad you love me even if I have Neanderthal friends," Jane said as she smiled at her. "Their girlfriends are giving them hell for not getting ready and they're giving _me _hell for taking time out of our plans to give you a rose, but I just had to see you. I love you, Maura, and I want you to know that everything is going to be okay between us even if we're at different schools. I proposed to you on Valentine's Day, remember and if we were allowed, I'd marry you right this second."

As Maura leaned in to kiss her girlfriend, they were interrupted by the sound of a horn honking. "Rizzoli!" her friend Steve shouted. "Get your ass in the car."

"We only have two freaking hours now!" Josh added. "You can see your girlfriend later."

"Maura!" Greg shouted as he stuck his head out of the window of the passenger seat. "Marcy said she's going to call you about shoes or something in an hour."

"Okay!" Maura responded.

"See you at six?" Jane asked, still hesitant to let go of her girlfriend.

"See you at six," Maura reassured her.

After a goodbye kiss from Jane, Maura returned to the salon holding the rose that Jane had given her. She was still depressed about going to different schools, but she knew she had a girlfriend who loved her and wanted to spend the rest of her life with her.

* * *

5:00 P.M.

An hour before she was scheduled to meet Maura, Jane came running into her house and upstairs to her bedroom. Just as she expected, her clothes were laid out for her on her bed because her mom didn't trust her to iron them herself. Unlike Maura who was wearing a dress, Jane had chosen to wear black pants, a black vest, and a white button up shirt. It wasn't what her mom had always pictured her wearing to prom, but it was Jane's style and she wasn't about to argue with Jane about wearing a dress.

After a quick shower, Jane put her prom clothes on, but she was still struggling with the tie. "Ma!" she called out as she hurried to the kitchen table where her mom was putting film in the camera.

"Look at you," Angela said as she laid eyes on her daughter.

Jane noticed a disapproving tone that she was all too familiar with. "That's not a good 'look at you.'"

"Tuck your shirt in and button your vest," Angela ordered. "Janie, it's your senior prom. Don't you want to look nice for Maura?"

She was going to argue with her mom until she added the line about looking nice for Maura. She wanted to look more than nice for her; she wanted everything about Maura's night to be perfect and if that meant tucking in her shirt and buttoning her vest she was more than willing to do so.

"My tie," Jane pointed out. "I keep trying to tie it, but I can't and it's the most important thing I'm wearing."

"Your dress is supposed to be the most important thing you're wearing."

"Ma!" Jane said in frustration. "We promised not to argue about this. I need to wear a tie because it's the same color as Maura's dress and that's how everyone is going to know Maura is my date."

"You proposed to her during the morning announcements," Angela pointed out. "I think everyone knows you two are a couple."

"I know everyone knows," Jane argued. "It's just something you do at prom. I'm so proud to be Maura's girlfriend and this is just another way to show how proud I am of her and I was going to wear a red shirt, but it would look weird in our prom pictures."

As she tied her tie, Angela noticed how nervous her daughter was and she started to recall her own experiences before senior prom. She fussed for weeks over her dress and her makeup and what shoes to wear and when the day finally came she was more nervous than she had ever been in her young life. The times had changed and the clothes had changed, but at that moment Angela realized Jane was facing the same anxieties about prom that she had faced over twenty years ago.

"Let me look at you," Angela insisted when she finished tying Jane's tie. Her little tomboy that used to collect baseball cards and watch _Sesame Street _with Maura in the living room was now an eighteen-year-old woman who was getting ready to take Maura to the prom. Jane's childhood and adolescence seemed to fly by and Angela knew it was only a matter of time before Jane married Maura and the two of them started a family of their own.

"Do I look okay?" Jane asked. "I didn't want to do too much with my hair so I just put mousse in it and I'm only wearing mascara instead of—"

"Janie," Angela interrupted. "You look beautiful. This is how I imagine you looking on your wedding day."

"I wish that were happening sooner than ten years from now."

"The time will go by so fast. Ten years ago, you and Maura were eight, and that went by fast."

"I'm just nervous," Jane admitted. "This night has to be perfect for Maura."

"It will be," Angela reassured her. "And your nervousness will stop once you see how beautiful Maura looks."

Thinking of how Maura was going to look finally put Jane at ease. Before heading out the door, Jane grabbed a tube of chapstick and placed it securely in her pocket. "Can't kiss Maura without this."

* * *

6:00 P.M.

The moment Jane arrived at Maura's house, Maura ran as fast as she could to her. Constance and Angela had wanted to take pictures of the two of them, but Jane and Maura were too wrapped up in each other to pay attention to what was happening around them or what their moms were saying.

While standing in front of her, Maura wrapped her arms around Jane's waist. "You look gorgeous."

"You do," Jane responded. "I was so nervous, but now that I'm looking at you I feel okay about all of this."

"You don't need to be nervous," Maura reassured her. "It's just me."

"It's never _just_ you," Jane pointed out. "There is no such thing as _just _you. You've been my whole world since preschool."

"Girls!" Angela said to get their attention. "It's picture time."

Picture time. It was the moment Jane and Maura had been dreading. If prom pictures were going to be anything like the pictures they took before the sixth grade dance, Jane and Maura knew they were in for awkward poses and fake smiles until their mothers finally let them leave, but they were pleasantly surprised when their mothers let them be at ease with each other. There was the obligatory photo of Jane and Maura facing forward with their arms wrapped around each other, but the others were much more playful. By the time they were finished, there were pictures of them posing in any way they saw fit like kissing and one of Jane dipping Maura. It was their professional photograph from prom that would get framed and hung in the living room, so these were solely for the girls to place in photo albums or display in their apartment when they lived together. Their twenties might be too soon for them to be nostalgic for prom, but Jane and Maura knew there would come a time when their future children would ask to see pictures of them in high school and these were the pictures they planned on showing off regardless of how much they dreaded taking them.

* * *

8:30 P.M.

Jane and Maura had planned on arriving to prom on time, but during dinner and dessert with Jane's friends and their girlfriends they had lost track of time. Maura was only comfortable around their mutual friend Marcy, so while Jane and the guys talked about sports and the other girls fussed with their hair Maura and Marcy talked about shoes and their plans for after graduation. Everyone's conversations lasted longer than they had expected, but Jane was grateful for their pre-prom distraction. She noticed that talking with Marcy about college had put Maura at ease because they'd be attending the same school in the fall. If Jane couldn't be there with her girlfriend, she was grateful that she'd have someone else with her.

Their prom was being held in a ballroom of a hotel nearby and, as beautifully decorated as the hotel was, Jane and Maura couldn't get past the theme of their prom. Just like the majority of high school proms, it was simply titled 'An Enchanted Evening.' Jane and her friends made nonstop jokes about having an enchanted evening while their girlfriends just rolled their eyes.

Jane looked at all of the girls on the dance floor in their formal attire and hairstyles that must have taken them hours. Some were dancing with their friends, others with their dates, but they were all so beautiful and so happy to be there. She knew Maura wanted to be one of those girls and by all means she deserved to smile and laugh and dance just as they were doing. The girls had tried to get Maura on the dance floor, but she held tight to Jane and refused to go unless Jane went with her.

"Go with the girls," Jane said affectionately. "I want you to have a good time."

"I came to prom to be with my girlfriend," Maura pointed out. "And if my girlfriend wants to be a wallflower, I'll be a wallflower, too. Jane, I know you're too shy to dance and I'm okay with that."

"Don't be okay with it," Jane smirked. "We're going to the dance floor."

The dance music that was playing came to an end shortly after Jane and Maura reached the dance floor, but Jane was relieved when a ballad started to play. Jane wasn't fond of that particular song and neither was Maura, but she held Maura close to her and moved along with the music.

"This is why I wanted to come to prom," Jane admitted.

"For slow dancing?"

"Yeah," Jane smiled. "This reminds me of the Valentine's Day dance in sixth grade."

"When you first saw me in my dress today, I thought of the expression on your face when you saw me in my dress in sixth grade, except this time was slightly different."

"Different?"

"Different," Maura reiterated. "Different, but better. You liked me back then, but now there's so much love in your eyes."

"And there always will be," Jane reminded her. "Even if we're going to different schools, I'm still going to be there for you and I'm still going to see you every chance I get."

Just as they did for the first time six years ago, Jane and Maura kissed each other on the dance floor. One kiss turned into several and it wasn't long before Jane and Maura left the ballroom to be alone near a fountain. What started out as Jane's attempt to be in a romantic setting with her girlfriend turned into the two of them taking their shoes off and wading in the fountain regardless of how cold the water was. They splashed each other and when the temperature of the water became too cold for them, they stepped out so they could throw pennies in the fountain. Each penny represented a wish for their future. Their wishes ranged from Maura being valedictorian and Jane building the best marble launcher in her physics class to wishing for their dream jobs and having a house and a family together someday.

"A marble launcher?" Maura asked after they had thrown their last penny.

"Yes, a marble launcher," Jane stressed. "Did you expect a bridge out of popsicle sticks? A marble launcher would be more efficient."

"You just want to use it for a physics project and as a catapult for your history class project," Maura pointed out.

"Two projects for the effort of one," Jane told her. "I can't go wrong with that and, if I'm able to make it out of wood, it could be used for physics, history, and shop class. I'm a senior, Maur. I've earned my right to use the same project for three classes."

"Jane?"

"What's up?"

"What you're saying is starting to make sense…and that scares me."

"Scares me, too," Jane smiled at her.

After taking their prom picture and dancing some more with their friends, Jane held Maura outside near the fountain and listened to her talk about the constellations and any facts related to astronomy that came to mind. As she kissed Maura goodnight after prom, Jane realized she had just experienced the greatest night of her life and, as long as she had Maura, her life would keep getting better.


End file.
